God's Dirty Work
by Freyjadour
Summary: My name is Squall Leonhart...I am Not corrupt, I am Not a murderer, I am Not insane... I am simply doing God's Dirty Work. Squall X Rinoa, Selphie X Irvine, Quistis X Seifer, Zell X maybe someone
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: My one and only for the story and it is a long one. I do not Own Final Fantasy at all, that is obvious. If I mention** **anything in this fic that is obviously not mine. Any car, any restaurant, fast-food place, some Website or something. Basic rule, if it's obvious I don't own it, then I don't. You don't need me telling you at the end of every chapter what I didn't own.**

**Warning: much swearing and violence. I have this as M for a reason. Hope you like it; this one is a little darker then my usual fics. Also I am making this kinda based off like Christian Catholic religion. I know that wasn't her religion in the game, oh well its an AU get over it. If you are religious and find this offensive in some way. Well don't know what to tell ya really. Try a different story I guess, but honestly it shouldn't be offensive at all. Don't get me wrong, this isn't some major religious fic, i'm not really huge on religion, but there might be mention of the bible and stuff. Passages or something. I'm just getting everything out in the open right now.**

* * *

My name is Squall Leonhart. I am not corrupt, I am not a murderer, and I am not insane. I do not kill for the fun of it. Killing is a sin, and all sins must be punished. And I am well aware that my judgment day will come that I pay for my sins. But I hope that when I meet the big man, he has some sympathy for me. He is supposed to be all loving and all caring. Which is why I believe he lets all the criminals, rapists, and drug dealers continue to run free. They are people too, they have human dignity. Which is why the death penalty is bad. It's why we aren't supposed to kill even the most evil of people.

Bullshit.

Every person starts with human dignity and they can keep it or lose it. When you rape someone, you lose it. When you torture someone, you lose it. When you sell your children's clothes for drugs, you lose it. When you are involved with kitty porn, you lose it. And when you lose it, I will be there. And I will make sure you pay for your sins.

People say I am a vigilante, and I have to agree with them. I kill crooks, and scum of the streets. I guess I'm working for justice in a way. But don't mistake me for police, I'm not one them. The police are a wonderful theory. Having a group of trained 'soldiers' for a city, to protect the innocent. They do there job, catching criminals here and there. Making drug busts on the occasion. But the police have rules, very strict rules that they can't break. The laws of the city and the country are needed. A country can't exist without rules. The problem with all rules, are where do they cut off. Are there expectations, any special cases to by past the rules? The answer is always no.

Think of this situation, true story. A hobo has a knife and drinks a little to much one night. He goes stumbling down the street and a number of events occur. Ending event is him standing over a dead woman's body with the murder knife in hand. He stumbles back to underneath the bride his usual spot. He has a box, and puts the knife in the box underneath all his other random shit. Next day he goes out to collect cans or whatever the hell hobos do during the day. Two police officers know he was involved in yesterday's murder. They go underneath the bridge and find his box. They dig through it and find his knife, they bag it for evidence. A few days later, the hobo is in court being tried for murder.

The verdict…his rights were violated and the evidence is no good. What rights were violated? Why searching his home without a warrant and going through his things. You gotta be fucking kidding me. Hobo is short for homeless; he doesn't have a home to go through. Okay even if I let that go, and say everyone deserves those rights. Just because those two officers didn't have a piece of paper that says they can go through his stuff. Then the knife, with blood on it that matches the DNA of the victim, doesn't count. It's just no good. That is messed up shit, even if it was abuse of rights, the man murdered and they had proof. But because they entered this homeless man's _home_ and went through his things, his box sorry, without papers. He was released. Dumbest shit ever.

Those are the things I cannot deal with in this world. People have the actual killer, with actual evidence but some dumbass rule that some guy made up to 'protect people' is now making those same people in danger. That is where I come in with my friends. We don't abide by those laws, we don't have to file paper work. We simply get the job done as it should be done. Best of all, people don't know who we are. They know we exist, they know someone is out there, but they have no idea who. We could be their neighbors, We could be their bosses, We could be their waiters, We could be their garbage men, We could be their taxi drivers, and We could even be their priests. We completely blend into society, and no one can find us.

We like it that way, because even though we do society a great deed. The police have this thing about finding us and stopping us. Why? I don't know, we're really helping them. But this takes us back to human dignity and everyone has it, so even us killing shitbags is bad. Well they can't stop us and we have mixed feelings throughout the city so I doubt we are turning ourselves in. Maybe someday when we aren't needed anymore. But that day doesn't seem to be close at all.

This hellhole we watch over is the dirtiest city in the world. Declared by almost every magazine of all time and TV reports. Yet people still come here since it's so cheap to have a room and get around. You don't even need a car, no gas, no insurance. Save a lot of money. You just need a pathetic job to get by here, which is why there's no surprise with the company this city keeps.

This city we live in, this city we risk our lives for. It doesn't belong to the innocents. It belongs to the demons of the night. The wicked and the evil. This city has been referred to as the Devil's Playground and I couldn't agree more. Demons like to play in this city, and if they only played with other demons. I wouldn't have a job. But no, they like to play with the innocents. For years these evil men have run the city's shadows. No one was stepping up to help these innocents that were left behind. The police did what they could but with their restrictions and the amount of demons that exist. They would never be able to handle it all.

So where was God in all this. People always thought he would have some divine intervention and save us all. But I realized something, that's not how it works. The Devil himself isn't up here tormenting everyone. He has his lackeys and his miscreants cause all the trouble. So where are God's men, where are his angels. Why don't they come and fight the demons. I have my theories that they are the priests or they are the people who help the poor. We figure angels aren't good at fighting, so they help in other ways. Well as great as that is, it doesn't get rid of the demons. So in their place, we stepped up.

Me, Squall Leonhart. I always had a sense for justice since the day I was born. I joined the police academy hoping to better the world. I met my first real friend in that academy, Seifer Almasy. He's a real jackass but a good person. Also we would train together, push each other. We were rivals and bettered ourselves to be the best. In the end we both graduated top of the class…I was number one he was number two. That jackass could never beat me.

Seifer is a hot shot with a short temper but makes up for it in his power. He is loyal, smart, and a fast thinker. He is everything I need to help in my job. His shot is well above average, just below mine of course. He is in amazing shape and has some connections in the shadows. He is our powerhouse, he is an extremely important asset on this team.

Now why would two cops think that they weren't doing the society enough? Simple, we were the ones with the hobo. There were more situations just like that one that occurred. Everyday there was something we were held back by restrictions. To the point where one time we didn't let those restrictions hold us back. He fought through them and did what we thought was right. Our reward? Reprehended, that's what. We were sick of not being able to fully do what needed to be done. So we both made a decision. We quit and decided to do a little different kind of helping. We started with some small time crooks. Just street rats that still needed taking care of. We may have been cocky and arrogant at times but we weren't dumb. We weren't going to just go shoot off some major mobster or criminal. We needed to see how things would work, how to plan things. Yet with the little time people there wasn't much planning.

One time we even found a man in the action of a raping a woman in an alleyway. As police we would have to shout at least twice to freeze. In that time he would grab a knife and threaten the woman's life. This time Seifer simply pulled out his new 'office tool' and put one right in his head. We walked away before the woman knew what happened. We didn't want praise, we didn't need it. A thank you wouldn't do anything but bring more trouble. So we went about the streets, _cleaning them. _The paper was soon filled with names of people dying and best of all. They had no idea who was doing it. They had no idea why 'random' murders were happening. They couldn't even tie together that they were all terrible people. It took them two months to eventually figure it out and that's when the discussion began. Whether we were good or not. I believe that current debate is still ongoing.

Next person is Zell Dincht, a hyper master martial artist. He was trained by his grandfather and mastered everything he was taught at an early age. A prodigy the people say. He lived in his house with his mother and his grandfather. A dojo was just a few steps away. The dojo was highly regarded and brought in a high income. Not to mention all of Zell's martial art tournament winnings, that place was practically a bank. He had everything going for him, he probably could've retired at twenty if he wanted.

Well one terrible horrific night, the demons came. A group of four men, all in their thirties. They busted into the dojo where Zell and his grandfather were. Zell fought against them with everything he had. They carried guns and knives and he only had his hands and feet. He got some punches in but one man knocked him in the back of the head with a crowbar. He fell to the ground and was dizzy but not unconscious. If he was unconscious he would've been sparred the suffering of lying on the floor as men, no demons, ransacked his house.

This man looks down at Zell and sneers. He tells Zell that he was only going to rob him but after his little stunt he was going to kill his grandfather and his mom. He spits on Zell before shooting his grandfather at that very moment. Then he goes with his friends into the house and finds his mom. She making dinner for her family and this wicked man put four rounds in her. They quickly run throughout the house and ransack everything. Zell tried to get up but his mind couldn't process right. Then the men return to him and one pointed a gun at him. Then the one who slammed Zell with the crowbar stops his friend. He tells them that leaving this man alive will cause him more pain then killing him. Then the demons laugh. They laughed so hard that when I heard this story I wanted to puke.

These evil wicked men are what forced me to go to Zell's family's funeral. I waited till everyone was gone and then made the proposition. He had so much anger I could feel it radiating off him. I told him what Seifer and I were doing and offered him a spot. He gave me quite the look when I told him that. He thought about it, his grandfather's teaching that all life was sacred was hard to ignore. Yet he talked more with me and I showed him why it was good to fight the evil. Fight the wicked like the demons that ruined his life. He finally agreed but with one condition, that eventually we would take down those that made his life hell. The one's that brought him to the harsh reality of what life was. I was more then happy to oblige, only I brought up the option of using knives or guns for a quicker killing. Sadly we still haven't found those men after a year of work. We are working on it and Quistis might have a lead.

Quistis Trepe, she is a great asset to the team. Smart, knows how to handle herself, has a good sense of justice, great with computers, and fucking gorgeous. Even though she is extremely attractive. Tall, blonde, and smart. She isn't my type exactly. I know, what's wrong with me, but I can't fight what I like. But she is Seifer's, and it didn't take long for them to start seeing each other. Her job is to hack into whatever we may need hacking. Also she can find our next targets and everything we need to know about them. She gets everything done to the tiniest detail so when we do our job, we do it well and right.

Her back-story is nothing to special. She was a genius child and went to high school and started college at a very high-end school. I say started because she heard about us in the paper and on the news. She thought what we were doing was great. She heard many stories about wicked men, and since she was intelligent she knew the police department would never work. She wanted to join; she was going to give up a life of luxury and peace to join our noble cause. She tried to find us for months, but I made sure it wasn't easy to find us. However she did one day, simply wrong place wrong time. Or right place right time I guess. She was being mugged at knifepoint late at night and who saved her but her shining knight in a gray trench coat. Seifer Almasy. She knew it must have been one of the 'sacred killers', one of our many nicknames they gave us.

Seifer as usual just took off not wanting to cause trouble with someone knowing his face. She chased after him and he started running himself. He was impressed when she was almost able to keep up with him. An eight-foot chain-linked fence is what stopped her, but when Seifer stood on one side she fell to her knees begging to join. She cried her eyes out desperately screaming at him. She shouted how she could help with security and with hacking. She said anything she could do get him to let her join. Seifer got her address and told her honestly he had to check with the rest of us and then maybe. She figured that was the best she would get so she agreed.

It didn't take to much convincing on our part, we just dug up some info on her first. Just to make sure she wasn't some undercover cop. You should've seen her when we appeared in front of her dorm room. Which was hard enough to reach without Zell getting pulled into another dorm. When she opened the door she was about to scream but Seifer covered her mouth with his hand. We told her the plan and where to meet us. She followed it exactly, and right then we knew she would be prefect. Now she is a great help with every job we do. I don't know how we would get by without her.

Irvine Kinneas. This man is a completely necessary asset. A sniper, a fucking godly sniper. I have never seen this man miss. I have only known him a bit more then half a year but I don't think he will ever miss. He was raised on the plains of Galbadia as a farmer. His father was a sharpshooter and taught him how to handle a gun. They had to shoot any beasts that would attack their livestock. He got good with all types of guns and even camouflage for hunting. His mom left him when he was young and his dad died of a stroke. Instead of keeping the farm he sold it and moved to the city.

This man is heaven sent. He has helped us with the really high priority shit. His one problem, he can't keep his hands off the women. He jokes around all the time with Zell and I swear I would never think this man a sniper. But when that gun is in his hand, I know he will get the job done. He always does.

Why did he join our team? He liked guns and hated evil. He wanted to join our team but he knew it would be hard to find us. He didn't want to wait around and get lucky by running into us. It was a huge city and he knew the odds were low. So he let us find him. By simply doing our job with his own partner. He shot all those that he thought were evil. He had good judgment. We just thought at first it was just some guy trying to follow in our foot steps but when he managed to kill this one mobster that even we couldn't find a way to. We decided to find this, 'God's eyes', as the paper deemed him…it's very fitting.

We simply raided his home. Well when we entered he pulled out double handguns from his coat and started cursing us out for barging in…I really liked him. We told him that we weren't there to hurt him and he even put his guns away. I thought he was a little too naive until I heard the shotgun pump behind us. I smiled and he smiled. It took about a minute for him to join us and move to our place.

Selphie Tilmitt. Irvine's partner, the one with the shotgun. A petit little brunette that is possibly more hyper then Zell. One of the more annoying people I have met in my life but she's good. She is a demolitions specialist. A cute little girl like that and I would never expect it. She loves explosions and use to set fireworks off in her room. Very dumb, yet she loved the smell and the feel of power. She is also one hell of a driver. Her job is to drive us when in a tight spot and place explosions whenever needed.

Her back-story is another sad one. First off she had no father as she grew up, her father was a rapist. He caught her mom on the street one night and nine months later Selphie was born. Her mom was a great woman. She didn't get an abortion and she never blamed Selphie like most raped parents do. Luckily her mom was old enough to have a good enough job to get by. Selphie has been mugged over ten times and has been beaten by at least two boyfriends. A terrible life that only got worse. On Selphie's sixteenth birthday her mom was mugged on the street carrying her daughter's birthday present. The mugger threatened her for the gift but she refused to hand it over. She didn't want anything to go bad for Selphie on her birthday.

What a great birthday present for Selphie to wait around by herself at her house for her mom. Only after waiting two hours was she rewarded with a cop offering his condolences. I have no idea how she can be this happy all the time when she has one of the worst lives I know.

She had enough money from her mom's life insurance to finish high school. She could've gone on to college but she didn't care anymore. She just stayed home and did what she loved. Explosives. She didn't have a teacher, she didn't have a lab. The way she learned was simply using the Internet. Amazing what you can find if you look in the right place. I think she told me once she joined a terrorist chat room to find out how to make a bomb out of kitchen supplies. Ridiculous. Yet very useful in some situations. However our job of ours pays high when you kill a high roller himself. We don't need her crazy concoctions anymore.

She heard about us and she instantly thought what we were doing was great. She wanted to find us but she had no way of knowing how. She waited around for a month getting more and more frustrated. Then one fateful day she saw a weird looking but handsome man walking in the street. He looked completely normal except for the cowboy outfit he was wearing. Selphie thought that he was part of our group. She was half right I guess. It didn't take much to convince the perverted cowboy for her to join him. Then she joined us when he joined us.

That is how our little family came to be and that is now my team that helps me to eliminate all the evil in this wicked city. We all have our jobs and we all do them perfectly. The people who really get dirty are Zell, Seifer, and I. Quistis rarely gets involved with any blood. Irvine is too far away for most of the jobs to have that iron smell. Selphie doesn't ever shoot a gun unless she is put in a tight spot. Zell, Seifer, and I are the ones that will go in strapped. We are the ones really risking our lives but its all good. I wouldn't have it any other way.

This city, this fiery place made of concrete. We are the protectors, the guardians, the saviors. We are the only people who are able to fully take on all the wicked people that exist in this city. People think my beliefs contradict themselves. They would be correct. I take the Lord's name in vain for one thing. But seriously I kill people even though God believes everyone deserves life. I just am smart enough to realize that even if killing is wrong and God does not want this done. It needs to be done. People need help every day and if no one is going to help them, then we are. But in _our_ way because it is the _only_ way.

Statistics show that in the past ten years crime rates have increased steadily by eighteen percent. A high percentage by far. Yet this year the same study shows that the crime rate has decreased by two percent. Not a lot, but after a five-year increase, there was a sudden decrease. Somebody was doing something right.

Everyone on my team knows the risk they run. Not just death but the possibility of eternal damnation. But they have all chosen to help the innocents because frankly, we would rather have saved a thousand lives then live a thousand lives in heaven. We also think it would be great to end up in hell with all the people we send there. It would be quite the reunion.

Whether people admit it or not, this needs to be done, but everyone is too afraid to do it. Not us, we have stepped up risking everything to help those. I still believe that what we are doing is right, and that God will reward us in the end.

After all, we are doing his dirty work.

* * *

**Well there is the first chapter. I have the second one done already and will probably update in a week. But still I would like to get some reviews to know if this story seems like it has any chance. Although I ask you give it a chance more then the first chapter. This was really more just an intro.**

**Oh and the genre is romance because there will be some eventually. And crime because there was nothing else and this has to do with all the scum and stuff so I thought it fit.**


	2. Assassination

**A/N: Thank you for the reviews, a good sign to me that this story has potential. This chapter really starts off the story. Last one was basically a background. And the length of my future chapters will probably be leaning more towards this length then last one.**

* * *

"I hate this."

"This is the safest way," I heard Irvine say.

"I should be in there," I replied running a hand down my face. "We should be confronting him of his sins."

"It's too dangerous, it's like a fortress."

Fuck. I hate to do things this way. I am the playmaker too, but I got out voted this time. I like to go up to the murderers and tell them what they did wrong. Tell them where they are about to be sent. I explain as descriptively as I can what their eternal damnation is going to be like. I can understand why we have to kill them from a distance at times. I go along with it, but this time it's not right. This time our target is high up, extremely high up, and shooting him from a roof hundreds of yards away is just not right. Yet here we were, Irvine and I sitting on a roof of a building only about fifteen stories high. Surrounded by other buildings, some that are above twenty stories.

The roof we were on, like all others had that little yard high brick wall around the edges. Safety precaution I would assume. I glanced over at Irvine. He was right at the fire escape ladder fully outstretched lying down with his huge sniper rifle balanced on the ledge peering just above the top ladder bar down the alleyway in front of us. There couldn't possibly be a better set up for us. He kept moving it slightly just scoping the area. I don't know how he can lie so still for so long but it's truly amazing. He was definitely a sight to see. He wore his usual cowboy outfit, God knows why. He at least had the decency to put on a dark trench coat so it would blend in the darkness more. The coat spread out over him so sometimes I even had to blink to get the depth perception back. He somehow seamlessly fused into the roof itself. If this was the ground, I know someone would step on him and thing it was just a bump. Even his dark hat was tipped down so the brim of his hat just barely landed on the rifle itself. I couldn't even see his eyes, the only thing that might give him away too.

I had my back to the ledge looking in the opposite direction. I pulled out a cigarette and slipped it into my mouth.

"Those things will kill ya man," I heard Irvine quietly speak. So softly I could've sworn it was just my own conscious telling me to quit. Whenever he was in sniping mode he became a professional. Even his tone of voice dropped to an unusual low.

I ignored him and pulled out a lighter and lit it very low so the light wouldn't be able to be seen. It may have been a bit too much precaution but I wasn't risking anything. Which brings me back to why were we on a small building wedged between tall ones? Why not just get on the tallest one and take down our target? Because this one is perfect, it is practically hidden by all sides. The only way to see it is down the one alleyway Irvine is aiming down. This building is far enough away from our target, yet still close enough to hit it. It also is lined perfectly with the one window where we know our target is going to be. Yet I'm still not happy about it.

This man more then likely doesn't even think he is doing anything wrong. In fact to most people he isn't seen as our usual targets. But he is the cause of many deaths and after much research Quistis has discovered he might have connections to the shadows. So he is now on our list, and that is why we are here. Still I can't believe we are about to take General James Caraway's life without even confronting him. I have many questions to ask him. But fine, whatever, we don't need to find his connections through him personally. There are other ways, it will just take longer.

"Squall?" My name rang through my earpiece.

I touched the button on my neck, "you in position?"

"Yes everything is ready, the tape is stuck."

"Any difficulties?" I asked going through the routine questions.

"Zell picked a scab, that's it."

"Very well get back to the boat."

"Aye aye captain."

Damn Selphie, I wish she took this a little more seriously. Then again it's why she brings so much joy to this depressing job. Boat really means car, it is just incase if anyone is listening in. Like tape meant explosives charges. Scab meant Zell had to kill a guard. But now why are they up near the mansion if we have to be way back here? You see his study that he sits in is reinforced by three and four quarters-inch glass. Yet it is made in a way so it doesn't look that thick. Where did we learn that? Cribs, Caraway mansion tour. Very helpful. I even know the layout of his house now. See why I want to go in personally.

So the glass is bullet proof, and it can't even open. I would hate that feeling but maybe the man likes it. Being seclude inside his house, feeling all safe and secure with his ornate rooms and with the ornate little flute glasses. His nice big lounge chairs, the gold trimmed bookshelves, and the nice elegant electric chandelier hanging from the high ceiling detailed with patterns. And that's just his fucking study. Why should a murderer get such a high-end life? He gets to sit in that fancy room that even that most generous people would feel the one deadly sin of jealously. Why does _he _get that, over all the good people in this world? He gets that and just watches the outside world move about. The people living in their fantasy worlds that they build on the delusions they get feed. Caraway on his little watchtower, over looking all he controls, his little manor of a city. He almost holds more power then the president, politically and of course militarily. But I'm on my _watchtower_, and tonight we shall see who is overlooking the people after tonight. Either him as their condemner, or me, as their savior.

Anyways it is impossible to plainly shoot through. Even if the bullet got through the glass, the glass could cause the bullet to go off course. We only got one shot, we can't miss. So we put up tiny explosives that should shatter the glass. Just at the bottom, but according to Selphie it should send a shock wave, or tremor or whatever all the way through it, causing the whole window to shatter. Which is why Selphie had to sneak over there, followed by Zell incase of anything going wrong. It is one thing to sneak around outside then try to get inside, kill someone, and get out.

"Squall?"

Another voice came through my earpiece. Once again I touched the button on my neck with my finger. "Quistis."

"The latest report is practically no wind and clear sky. Temperature is low fifties but that doesn't matter."

"Does to us." I snorted; I'm freezing my ass off. I took another drag from my cigarette, feeling the warmth flow throughout my body. I don't care if these things are bad, on a cold day they can keep you warm. The cold kills you, yet people still deal with it, so I can deal with this. Besides the way I'm going I don't think I gotta worry about smoking.

This shot isn't a long one and even if the wind will barely affect the bullet. I still take it into consideration. This isn't that long of a shot for a sniper but with that huge thick glass, there will be many shards. We are timing this so close that the glass shatters basically a millisecond before the bullet goes through. That way Caraway, a man of years in the military, who most likely will fall in an instant to the floor at the sound of an explosion. Won't have a chance. But to do this, we have practiced how long the charges take to go off. If there is a delay, when Irvine has to shoot, and if the shards will play a factor. So far everything seems fine. Selphie even directed the timer's start to Quistis, and with her, we can synchronize.

"There he is," Irvine voice rang in my earpiece and once again for a second I thought it was just some static. I wouldn't have heard him if it wasn't for the earpiece and I am a couple feet away from him too. His voice was quiet like the wind shifting in the air, what he said and how he said it all had an ominous feeling to it.

I turned around pulling out my binoculars. I adjusted them for a moment before the old man came into focus. He was sitting behind the desk in his study. He pulled out a little book and set it on his desk. After he did that he stood up and walked over to his window. He peered through the glass at every thing that his eyes could eat up. Even the shadows made from the street lamps. I could see this far away that his eyes were cold and filled with death. He didn't just watch people. He loomed over them like a hawk, looking at prey. Looking at the people he could control, the people that would bend to his will. I needed to free them of this man. Good thing I got my own hawk, and mine feasts on the demons of the night. And you, Caraway, are his meal tonight.

"Should I set the charges," Quistis voice rang in my head. She knows he is in his study from Irvine telling me. Since Irvine usually has his hands full, we set his microphone to always on. That way he doesn't have to press a button. And when any one of us says something, we all hear it.

"I don't wanna risk the explosives blasting him back at all," I replied keeping my eyes on him at all times.

"Okay."

Irvine and I continued to watch him cast his eyes over his surroundings. I could tell he had that look about him, that look that people get when they get to much power. Or when they know people don't like them. That paranoid little look people get. He is a strong man, I will give him that. But he is getting old and he knows it. He can't be safe forever; he can't hide behind that thick glass for all eternity. I hope he is afraid of facing his judgment. Because I'm bringing it too him right now.

He started to turn around but hesitated and quickly snapped his head back. Paranoia, I'm telling ya. Just by watching him I know that he is constantly looking over his back. Memorizing faces, looking for exists in every building he walks into. How can I tell he is like this? Simple. I am almost the exact same way now. I hide it slightly better but I am always worried on the inside where I go now. I keep my team and myself secret but you can never be too careful.

"Now Squall?" Irvine asked. Caraway sat back down and began reading his book again.

"No," I said watching him closely. "Not yet, I want to see what he does for a moment."

"Leonhart let's just get this done."

That voice belonged to Seifer. He was sitting next to Quistis back at the safe house. He didn't need to come, in case if we got caught or in a tight spot. He could always come after us and save our asses. Not that we plan on getting caught, but we have never killed a political person as high as Caraway before. It is a dangerous move, but we have thought about it for a while and discussed it greatly.

"Because I want to see if he has some book or something that might be his records."

"Don't risk it all on that Squall." Seifer replied seriously.

I didn't respond and just continued to watch Caraway. We knew it was somewhere in his study. It held the most books. He could easily keep his records in here and no one would know. Yet after a few minutes when he didn't move I knew he could very well be reading for hours. I sighed and put out my cigarette on the ledge. I pressed my microphone button.

"Fine Quistis give us the count down."

"Okay on five." She replied. Her voice completely professional sounding.

I set a little count down clock on the ledge. It had the LED lights and I set it to five minutes and waited. I watched Irvine squeezing his trigger finger slightly. Just keeping it warm or something, I don't know why he does half the shit he does. My guess would probably be nerves but he doesn't like to be thought of as nervous when doing his job. It is an insult to him to call him nervous. Nerves are what keep you alive in my opinion, but they also make you jumpy. In a shootout that could save your life. But for sharp shooting, you have to be calm. You have to open all your senses and focus them all on your one target. Irvine's job is a hit or miss deal. There is no second chance. He _is_ the job tonight; if he misses we are in deep shit. This is why he gets so professional, and also why he enjoys life so much when he isn't doing his job. He experiences the worst of life, and the best.

"One…two…three…four…five." And right when she said five I pressed the button and the clock began counting down. Irvine shifted only the tiniest bit but then continued to watch patiently. It is my job to tell him what time it is, and start the countdown from ten evenly. Irvine has to time this perfectly. With this distance he actually has to shoot about a quarter of a second before the explosions go off. See how crazy our idea is. I will even be surprised if it works, but if it does. We would have just taken our biggest mark down since we began this crazy job. Besides all the big underground people. This is the one that will wake people up to what we are doing. That no matter what social status a person has, they can still be a target in our eyes.

I continued to watch in front of Caraway's house. It was late at night but there was still some people walking the streets. I even saw a kid riding his bike flying down the sidewalk. Just enjoying life, to naïve and young to be wrapped up in this world we live in. Then a couple walked by, the woman latched to her boyfriends arm. They strolled down the street just enjoying the night. That is who I do my job for. I do it for everyone that deserves a good life. Why should people like Caraway screw up other people's lives as he lives in his mansion.

We have done many things that I thought were crazy in the past. But today, we are doing something we actually never thought we would dare do. This is dangerous to what people will think about us now. In fact we don't even really want them to know it was us. Irvine is even using an Estharian rifle just to throw some suspicion off us.

We're ready for this. We are ready to step up and take the next big step in our job. In this corrupt world we need to do this. We started with some criminals, slowly growing larger and larger. Getting to mob bosses, and whole gangs. We are slowly taking back this city. And now we are taking down the _General _of Galbadia. That is a huge step. Yet all my friends are with me. No one argued this decision and I gave them all the chance to say no. Me and my friends can do anything.

I glanced at the clock and watched as only four minutes remained. I told Irvine and he nodded so slightly I almost missed it. He was concentrating and I was proud of his past achievements. I knew he wouldn't let me down. I slowly began tapping on the ledge every second. After about two taps I got it down perfectly doing it quietly. Just so Irvine could get a feel of how fast it was going. I didn't want him in the pitch black.

_There must be some kind of way out of here  
Said the joker to the thief  
Too much confusion  
I can't get no relief_

In fact I was proud of everyone on my team. They were my best friends, and honestly over the years they have basically become my family. I never really had a family growing up. I wont get into that now, but I didn't have friends either throughout all my life. Like I said before the first real friend was Seifer in the Police Academy. Now my team is made up of my best friends.

Three minutes. I turned back to Caraway looking out of my binoculars. I watched him closely. It was an interesting thought to think that in three minutes that person in that room would no longer be alive. That they would no longer be in this world, and weirdest yet was he didn't even know. He didn't even know that a gun was pointed at his head at this very moment. I watched as he suddenly picked up his phone. After a moment he began speaking back into it and waving his arm. I could only imagine him bossing the person around on the other line.

_Business men they  
Drink my wine  
Oh, and the plowmen dig my earth_

Two minutes. It was getting closer. My friends and I are making history in these next two minutes. We are taking down a conqueror, a tyrant, a totalitarian. I know how this is gonna work the next day. I know how things are done in this city. The papers are going to declare a tragedy and the day is gonna be one of mourning. Then they are going to start to realize that it was not Esthar. They will began to think it was us, and that is when the true controversy will start. Are we going to far? Are we still good people? What did Caraway do to deserve our fate for him? But none of that matters, because slowly and surely we are taking on the system in this city. And slowly but surely, we are winning.

Caraway began shaking his arms violently. I knew he was yelling at someone. It was weird that this man held so much power. He could probably make a baby cry just by looking at them. He led armies and sent out orders that also ended people's lives. What happened to when the general led the battles in the front? Charging into the enemy first to show his devotion for what he was fighting for. The classic general screaming his battle cry, galloping on a horse sword raised in the air, while hundreds of men charged behind him ready to die for their general, for their country. The beauty in war is gone now. It has changed; there is no glory, no honor. It is political, corrupt, and one hundred percent selfish.

Today it is even lucky if the general just doesn't shoot a missile. Only Galbadia and Esthar have deadly projectiles. A little unfair, and Esthar is such a mystery no one knows what to think of them. At least Galbadia is fairly predictable. Predictability I can deal with. I know how this country works. Caraway along with the president ruled this country. He didn't even need to use actions anymore; his words held enough power to persuade these people to his will. To start an unnecessary war, or get people to raise money for the army. That is a sickening thought. To raise money for an army. What about a war on poverty? No one ever seems to think about that. Not these war hawks.

_None of them along the line  
Know what any of it's worth_

The people don't even know, I just can't get over that. Then again if I were them I would think our world was great. They may know some things are wrong, but most feel like it doesn't affect them. They figure if they just keep to themselves nothing will happen to them. But they don't understand that they hold so much power in this world. That each person holds a certain amount of another person's fate in their hands. We are all apart of this world, it all matters what you do. And what I am doing is what no one else is brave enough to do. One team, against all evil.

_No reason to get excited  
The thief he kindly spoke  
There are many here among us  
That feel that life is but a joke (ha, ha, ha...)_

One minute. I stood up and told Irvine the time. Quistis was right, even on this building there was barely any wind. Good thing, otherwise it would be even colder. My hair still ruffled and I felt my jacket press against myself. I put my leg up on the ledge and rested my arms on my knee while I waited. Everything was going according to plan. I knew what I was doing was good, I knew this had to be done. There was no doubt in that. Maybe even some day my work will go worldwide. One can hope right? I think that would be great, one day to be worldwide.

_But you and I  
We've been through that, oh  
And this is our fate_

This sick fuck can honestly launch a strike anywhere in the world. Just by snap of his fingers. That isn't right at all. I know I might only be prolonging this power to someone else. But maybe it will send a message. A message to everyone everywhere that one man shouldn't hold so much power. There shouldn't be such massive weapons of destruction. I'm no tree-hugger but why any need for this deterrence. Like that idea actually works anyways. If Caraway got pissed for some reason he would launch a missile at Esthar. Sure there is some "check and balance" system. But Caraway has too much pull in his decisions for anyone to stop him. And if he did then Esthar would launch one right back. Until the two greatest countries on this planet would be rubble. Dust in the wind and a fairy tale to tell to you grandchildren. I will not let that happen.

"Twenty seconds," I quietly told Irvine.

So let us not talk falsely now  
The hour is getting late

He tightened his grip and I knew his sights were right at the back of his head. Luckily Caraway had a corded phone and didn't stand up when he talked. He barely shifted in his seat except for his arms waving a bit.

"Ten seconds." This was it, on the clock's third beep the charges would go off. "…Nine." This man needed to be stopped. "…Eight." Everything I have done, none of it compares to this. "…Seven."

_And All Along the Watchtower  
Princes kept their view  
While all the women, all the women, all the women, came and they went  
Barefoot servants, too_

This man is too dangerous to be kept alive. "…Six." He could destroy the world. "…Five."

_Outside in the cold distance  
A wild cat did grow_

We are the only ones that can stop him. A wolf and a cowboy, what a team. "…Four." Public protests don't work. "…Three." Freedom of speech is as censored as cable TV.

"…Two." I knelt back down.

_Two riders were approaching_

"…One…"

_The wind began to howl_

**Beep Beep…**

I never did hear the third beep. I saw Irvine pull the trigger and right when he did the explosion went off. I instantly looked hastily into my binoculars. I felt Irvine shift behind me. He put his back up to the wall and rested his gun against his shoulder. He kept his hat tipped and sighed. I never knew how he handled the pressure. The smoke from the explosion wasn't much and when it cleared I had a clean picture of the room. There General James Caraway rested on his desk. His head with the phone next to it. His crimson blood slowly spreading over the table, covering everything on it. It was a little sickening to look at. Just because I killed many people didn't mean I liked the sight of it. The blood puddle slowly growing bigger, until it runs down the dresser like a crimson waterfall. I am not one of his kind, I do not enjoy this sight. I do not enjoy hearing screams come from all around, and seeing guards bust into his study.

I turned to Irvine. "Come on," I patted his shoulder. "You did the world a service today."

Irvine looked up at me. "It felt different. Usually we are killing scumbags and stuff. This didn't feel like that."

"I know what you mean, but this had to be done. You know it did."

And with that we began to pick up our stuff and make our way to the car. And then to the safe house where we can all relax, and enjoy that we did everyone a favor today. I don't think there is anyone who will miss him.

* * *

**Knock Knock.**

I stirred slightly in my sleep.

**Knock Knock**

Yeah I heard you the first time, I just don't wanna get up. But now curious to what time it was, I glanced at my clock. I had to do a double take when the time read 2:34. Who knocks at someone's door this early in the morning? And I had classes early tomorrow, I needed my sleep. Before I continue thinking who would be at the door the person suddenly began pounding on it. To be honest this scarred me slightly, someone, a guy by the sound of it, banging on your door at two-thirty. This definitely meant I wasn't going to answer it. I closed me eyes and slowly began drowning out the noise.

"Ma'am it's the police!" A voice rang out.

Okay, that got me. I jumped out of bed with a whole new circle of thoughts treading in my mind. It was never good when the police came to your apartment. My thoughts were coherent enough to put a bathrobe on. Last thing I needed the police to see is what I sleep in.

I quickly unbolted the door and threw it open. A man that looked to be in his thirties stood at my door. He gave me a quick glance over. "Ma'am are you Rinoa Caraway?"

Ma'am makes me sound so old. "I would prefer Heartily."

"But you are a Caraway correct?"

I nodded. Now I knew something was really wrong. Sure I figured it wasn't good that the police where at my door, but I didn't think it would have to do something with my family. And the only family I had was my dad.

"I regret to inform you…your father has been shot."

* * *

"Squall get up!"

I rolled over in the bed pulling the sheets around me. This was the first good rest I had in a while and I wasn't going to let anyone cut it short.

"Squall!"

"…What?" I mumbled.

Something smacked me in the head and I realized it was the newspaper. I just let it stay on my head as I attempted to go back to sleep.

"That's it." I heard footsteps walking away and for a moment I thought they left for good. But I heard more feet coming back, many more feet. I felt two big hands press on my back and soon I was flying towards the floor.

"What the fuck!" I yelled. "Can I get some sleep?"

"Look at the paper." Quistis threw it at me once again.

I glared at her before sitting up and resting against the wall. I rubbed my eyes and was surprised to see everyone in my room watching me. And I have to say they didn't look too pleased. I figured I should probably look at the paper now.

"What section?"

"Front page." Was the snappy quick reply. I swear Quistis could be scary at times.

I fumbled my way through the paper until I found the front page. I was expecting to see, 'General Caraway assassinated'. Which it did say. What I didn't expect it to say was his daughter mourning the loss by herself as the last family member. I hopped to my feet.

"He has a daughter!" I yelled out loud.

"Yeah we know now!" Quistis yelled back. "Squall I would've had second thoughts about killing him if I know he had a daughter."

"Then maybe you should've done your research better," I growled back at her.

"Hey," Seifer stood in front of her. "Don't blame her."

"It's her fault, she always does the research. She is supposed to learn everything about our target. How can you miss something as big as him having a daughter."

Quistis looked away ashamed. She knew it was her fault. I didn't really mean to snap at her but this isn't good. You see even if we hated Caraway, he was still a father. We would've had to do more research and discover what his daughter was like. If she needed him deeply, we wouldn't have done it. I mean last thing we want to do his take out a father of a ten-year-old. The city has survived long enough with him, it could survive a bit more for his daughter to grow up. But if his daughter was in fact a bitch herself, then there is no problem.

I sighed and sat down on my bed. "Selphie."

"Yeah?" The petite girl stepped forward.

"Go to the mansion and learn what you can. Hear the rumors; see what's going on. I wanna know."

"Alright." And she turned instantly to leave. I love my team when they actually listen to me.

"Irvine."

"Hm?"

"Take Seifer and spread some rumors about something. Try and convince some people it could still be worth the death."

"Alright." Irvine walked to the door and stopped waiting for Seifer. Seifer glared at me, implying the message 'don't hurt my girlfriend'. Then those two took off.

"Zell."

"Yes sir," Zell bounced excitedly punching the air once or twice. "Tell me what you want me to do."

"Go to Dunkin Doughnuts and get some coffee. Oh and I think I'm low on my smokes, get me another pack."

Zell stopped bouncing and stuffed his hands into his pockets. "Fine." And he sauntered away.

Quistis leaned against the wall uncomfortably. I watched her for a moment. She was obviously not pleased with herself. That much was obvious just by the way she came into my room and yelled at me. And in truth it was partially my fault because I was supposed to also know everything about our targets. I just got lazy lately and let Quistis fill me in. That and also since I am technically the leader. Every action and decision is my fault and I always will take the full responsibility for whatever happens.

"Quistis don't worry about it." I started off.

Quistis looked up and stared me right in the eye. "Squall I messed up. I know I did, I should've known he had a daughter. But when I typed it in online it never said he had a daughter."

"Probably because it was so obvious," I replied. "I mean I bet you looked really deep for all the info you could. This daughter thing was probably just not apart of it all."

"That doesn't mean I didn't mess up."

I sighed again. "Quistis relax. His daughter is probably a complete spoiled bitch."

"That doesn't make it right to kill a father," Quistis replied.

Does to me, but I didn't say that. I rubbed my neck and stood up. "But we already killed Caraway. There is no taking that back, so I don't know what you wanna do."

"I wanna find her," Quistis replied quickly. She was obviously thinking about this.

"And do what?"

"Help her with whatever," Quistis stepped away from the wall the first time this conversation. "If she needs college money or something we can give it to her. If she has problems with some guys or something. I just wanna do something to make it up to her."

I sighed and she watched me intently. I looked away at the floor thinking. I looked back and her eyes hadn't left me yet. I stood up and walked out of the room. Apparently not what she was expecting because she 'huffed' and chased after me. A short walk from my room and I was in the living room. It was spacious, and connected right to the kitchen, only separated by a counter.

"Squall."

I plopped down on the couch and watched as she stood before me. She put her hands on her hips and gave me that disapproving mother look she somehow has mastered at the age of twenty.

I sighed. "Quistis I gotta bring it up with the other guys, wait until they get back and we can fully discuss this." I expected her to walk away and leave me be, but she continued to stare at me. "What?"

"At least help me why I couldn't find her," Quistis said. "It shouldn't be something so easy to miss. Maybe it is just me and you can find it."

I sighed and glanced at the remote next to me. It would be so easy just to turn on the television and screw Quistis. Yet this was a serious problem. We can't afford to miss any details. Not again. I ran a finger down my scar between my eyes.

Regretfully I pushed myself off the couch. "Alright let's get to work."

Quistis flashed me a grateful smile and began walking to her office. I followed her wishing Zell would get back with my coffee, even though I just sent him out like a minute ago. I walked into the hallway and past my room, then Zell's, which was right next to mine. A ninety-degree turn and we were going down another hallway away from Zell's room. The next door on the right opened up to be Quistis office. Right across from our gym. Yes you heard right, we have a pretty decent sized weight room. We all gotta stay in shape for this job.

In her office she had a desk between two windows with a flat screen computer monitor fairly high titled downward. Then another one underneath that. Then a laptop to the right of those two. One keyboard laid right in front of us on the desk. The other one slid up from underneath. I seriously don't get how she does three computers at a time. But I know when she gets working she really gets working. I have seen her hack into two different places at the same time. Don't know how she does it, and as long as she does do it. I don't really care.

Quistis began typing on just the one keyboard on her desk. "These are my notes." She opened up a document and I could see all the small little details she had entered in. Pretty detailed actually, his age, eye color, hobbies, height, habits, almost everything and anything you wanna know about General Caraway. She reached over to her laptop and got onto the Internet. "Now just doing a random search of General James Caraway just gets me all about his accomplishments as General."

"What about James Caraway, without the General in front," I suggested. I wasn't amazing like Quistis at the computer but I can do a mean Google search.

She did and I read it briefly and nothing mentioned anything about a daughter. Actually it didn't even mention anything about his wife. Which I found a little strange.

"Type in Caraway family."

Quistis did as told and selected another link. I read it over and it mentioned all about his childhood. Then very briefly at the end it mentioned his wife passing away, car accident or such. But still nothing about his daughter. Except there was a mention of a Rinoa at some point.

"Try Rinoa," I suggested.

After a few seconds a ton of Rinoa's popped up. I didn't think it was a common name, but then again this was the World Wide Web. These could be chicks in Esthar or something. There also seemed to be a lot of Myspace, or Facebook links from here. Can't people find something better to do with their time? Why put up pictures of yourself to show to friends, that you will see all the time. Whatever, I don't get it. Moving on.

"What about Rinoa Caraway," Quistis suggested.

Her fingers flew across the keyboard and soon a picture of the girl appeared on the screen. Except the picture was her when she must have been no older then seven.

Quistis instantly thought the worst, she put her head in her hands. "We just killed a seven year old girl's father."

I looked for a date and discovered it was twelve years old. "This picture is old."

Quistis quickly looked back at the screen hoping I was right. I heard her sigh of relief but that's all she did. She didn't want to discuss that she almost just broke down. "That's the most recent picture they have of this girl." Quistis going instantly back to her work mind.

I folded my hands and thought for a moment. I just stared at the seven year old on the screen. This was a little weird. I would think she died so people didn't want to talk about it…but I know she's alive so that doesn't make sense. I closed my eyes and just thought about the situation for a moment. I was sure that Caraway only released what he wanted to the public.

"What was Caraway's wife's name again?" I asked thinking of anything that could connect to Caraway.

"Umm I think it was something along Julie…Julia, yeah Julia."

"Type that in."

After a moment a bunch of names came up but the one we were looking for was the first. I remembered that she was a singer. A very popular one apparently. If you could type in a single first name on the Internet and find the person you were looking for. They were very popular.

"Julia Heartily," Quistis mumbled scanning over the page. "She got separated from her first true love because he went off to battle. Then the general comforted her, and they got married. They had one child, a daughter."

"But a Rinoa Caraway doesn't bring anything up." I said standing up from my chair and pacing. "How hard should it be to find the General of Galbadia's daughter?"

Quistis didn't reply, but just kept typing. I leaned against the wall a little frustrated. A daughter of a general should be easy shit to find. Why was it so hard that we completely missed the General having a daughter? She must have done something really bad so they disowned her.

I heard a door shut and someone whistling. That meant it was Zell. Thank God, I need coffee. After a moment for him to figure out where we were he waltzed into the office.

"S'up," he saluted with pack of cigarettes in his hand and holder of four coffees in the other.

He handed me the pack and I pocketed them. He then handed me my delicious coffee. Just that smell got me feeling a hundred percent more awake. My two addictions, smoking and coffee. I don't think I could live without one.

"Oh I thought you might like to know," Zell walked over and put the coffee in front of Quistis on the desk. He knew she was working and shouldn't bother her. "Turns out we weren't the only ones who didn't know Caraway had a daughter."

"Really?" Makes me feel better.

"Yeah," Zell grabbed another desk chair and sat down. He hung an arm over the back and instantly started shaking his leg. "I heard a lot of people talking to each other about how they didn't even know he had a daughter. But then I heard some older guys talking and they knew. So I don't know what to tell ya."

Quistis stopped typing and spun around to face me in her chair. "That makes sense. That picture of her younger. Who really pays attention to anything until they are a bit older? So because we aren't old enough, and some other people aren't either. They don't know about her because apparently no one does at this current time. But people who lived here longer know she exists from her childhood."

I swirled my coffee mulling that over. "I guess that makes sense."

"Wait you can't find her still?" Zell looking between Quistis and me.

"We think her name is Rinoa but she doesn't exist under Caraway for like the past ten years."

"Well that's…weird."

Thanks Zell, appreciate it. "Try…Rinoa Heartily."

Quistis spun back around and did some typing. "Oh my God. It worked, look here is her Facebook."

Of course she has one, why wouldn't she. I leaned over Quistis to see a Rinoa Heartily Facebook. Quistis clicked on it but our access was blocked.

"We need a name ourselves."

"Well make a name then." I ordered.

"Don't bother I got one," Zell said also leaning over Quistis shoulder. He reached down and typed his name and password in. He leaned back and glanced at me.

"You faggot."

"Hey man everyone got one," Zell threw his hands up defensively.

I just shook me head. "So you can check it now."

"No she still has to invite me," Zell answered.

"Then what is the point in getting signed on." I growled.

Zell scratched his neck, "umm well…hey look I got a message, Quistis can I just check it."

"No!" Quistis and I yelled at the same time.

"Fine whatever," Zell stormed back to his seat. "Probably just some chick that wants my bod."

"I swear to God Zell you say one more fucking thing like that and I will take a _book _to your _face_."

"Geez someone needs more comments on their wall." Zell smiled brightly, he knew he was getting to me. He wasn't a complete dumbass like most people thought. He just doesn't think before he acts a lot of the time.

"Squall ignore him."

"Alright…so what we just try another site," I suggested trying my hardest to keep my attention at the screen.

Quistis glared over her shoulder. "Squall are you forgetting who I am? You don't think I could hack a Facebook account. Come on a little more faith please."

I sat back down and waited patiently. It took her about two minutes to have full access. To spare you all the details of what she had on her oh so glorious Facebook. I'll just tell you what we found out that was helpful. She is nineteen and goes to DU, Deling University. She lived alone in an apartment. She claimed to have no parents, which I guess now is true…eh. That's about it. I mean we saw a few pictures of her also so we could pick her out if need be.

She was fairly attractive with the long black raven hair. The few highlights on her bangs do her well. She isn't fat and not terribly skinny, perfectly in the middle. And in almost every picture she was smiling brightly, like she had nothing wrong in the world. As if she knew the key to true happiness and no one else did.

"Who's the babe," I looked over my shoulder and Irvine and Seifer were back. We must have been at the computer for some time.

"Rinoa Heartily," I replied. "The daughter of the man we just killed."

Seifer walked up to the computer and peered over Quistis shoulder. "Well I gotta say I think she is big enough to handle herself. If she is at college she should be fine."

"I agree," I stood up, "Now lets just get over this and move on."

"What?" Quistis lurched from her chair. "We can't just forget about her because she is in college."

I raised an eyebrow; it was all she was getting.

"Squall how are we just going to forget about her?"

"Easy," I paused a moment for emphasis, "…done. Let's get on with our lives."

"Squall!"

I sighed again, it was way to early for this. I walked over to the window and leaned against the wall. I opened the window and pulled out my newly bought pack of cigarettes. Sliding one out I looked around for a lighter. Seifer pulled one from his pocket. He walked up to me and lit my smoke. First drag is like jumping into a cool lake on a blistering hot day. Except this will kill you. But they're basically the same thing.

"Squall?"

"What do you want me to do?" I sharply replied.

"Go to her."

"What?" I almost dropped my cigarette hearing that. It wasn't just the statement itself that was the surprise. It was the fact that Irvine said it.

Irvine stepped forward. "Quistis is right. Every person we ever kill is no doubt scrum, street bags, people who don't have families."

"Hey that guy two weeks ago had a family." I pointed out.

"His wife was a drug addicted and their child was in a gang," Seifer answered rolling his eyes.

"Whatever." I turned back to the window to enjoy my death habit. "Family's family."

"Look Squall it's different for you guys." I continued to look outside but I listened closer. Irvine's voice weighed a bit. Something that doesn't happen too often. "You didn't do anything, I shot him. That girl on the screen right there, I killed her father. Personally."

I thought about that for a second. Technically yes, Irvine did pull the trigger and ended Caraway's life. Technically he would be arrested for the actual murder. Technically people could place all their blame on Irvine. But no one likes to be technical. I take all blame for anything and everything that my team does. I know I could tell Irvine that over and over, but it wouldn't change anything. He would still feel guilty about killing a girl's father. So there would be no point in telling him otherwise. It would only start a useless endless discussion that would only waste everyone's time.

"So what do you guys wanna do then?" I asked already putting the cigarette out on the windowsill. Those things will kill ya you know. I stood up turning to them once again. "Want me just to waltz up to her." I portrayed what I was talking about. I waltzed up to Irvine, however the fuck you waltz and held my hands out wide. "What do you want to say to her? Oh we killed your father, didn't know you existed. Maybe we would've waited a year or so. Hey it's in the past, want some money to help you through college."

"Your sarcasm isn't needed Squall." Quistis told me in a not so friendly voice.

"I don't get what you want to do?" I was being completely serious too. Maybe not going about it the best way, but I was not up for the idea at all. It was too dangerous. Make contact with a target's daughter. They were losing it, we should just hide out like we usually do. Things blow over and we continue our job. That is how it always worked, and it will be how it always shall work.

"The funeral."

I turned to Seifer. "What?"

"Go to the funeral," he stepped away from the wall he was leaning against. "I know you think this is too dangerous, but many people will be at the funeral. It is the safest bet, instead of just randomly, and suspiciously going up to her. Talk to her at the funeral, give your condolences. Offer her help for anything."

"You're fucking nuts."

"No, he has a point," Quistis tapped a finger against her lips. "If we go to the funeral people will think we could be anyone."

I looked around the room to see everyone staring at me. They obviously thought this was a great idea. I would continue to protest but I knew it was useless. I wasn't in charge enough to stop all of them from this. Especially since it didn't sound half bad. Sure there were many things to work out and we would have to begin immediately. It was also extremely dangerous, but I do feel we need to at least apologize to her. Even if she doesn't understand what exactly for.

"Sick! This chick wants to meet up with me tonight for some fun."

"Zell get off fucking Facebook!"

* * *

**Sorry that there was barely any Rinoa in this chapter. She will be in the next one a lot more…and well the rest of the story a lot more. So no worries. Gotta say the next chapter might not come out for some time. I really got a lot of work, and I have other fics, as you may know. Just be patient and the chapter will come. **

**Also the song is All along the Watch Tower. Originally written by Bob Dylan, covered my Jimmy Hendrix, and then covered again by Dave Matthew's Band. If you must know, the lyrics I used were from Dave Matthews. The difference between them is slight on the actual lyrics but the songs sound completely different if you listen to each one. The Dave Matthews style fits this chapter best. **

**As always thanks to my Beta Fallout who came on board with me for this story also. It probably wouldn't happen otherwise. **


	3. Funeral

**A/N: Thank you Itz Rayz, Freestyler, Fantasy Fan Girl, Renegade Seraph, Zeyro, and Angel Sorano for reviewing. My life revolves around reviews, so please keep them coming.

* * *

**

**Rinoa's POV**

"Rinoa you poor thing. I'm so sorry."

"…It's alright."

Here I sat, in my house, on my couch, in my living room. My maid who was also my old nanny sitting next to me, crying her eyes out. Telling me over and over how sorry she is. I kept telling her not to worry. She had nothing to apologize for. I think she was worried about me personally because I still haven't shed a single tear and it is getting closer to noon every minute. It's been hours since I was told the news, and I just rode back home. Sat on this couch I'm on now, and waited until the police would talk with me.

I wanted to know what was going on. I knew my father was dead. But how was it done? I know this mansion is basically a fortress. To sneak into the house might be possible, if good enough, but you would never make it out without getting caught. Also when I drove up I saw the whole study window blown out. Did they place a bomb somewhere in his office? Maybe a maid or someone was really here to kill him. I really didn't know and I wanted to hear what the police had to say.

But I have been waiting for hours and I was starting to get mad.

"Rinoa…I'm _so_ sorry, really I am."

"I know!" I shouted losing my temper. I took a second to collect myself. "I know," I repeated quieter. I felt bad for yelling. "But you have nothing to apologize for, and please just stop saying that."

The maid opened her mouth and shut it. I figure she was probably going to say sorry again. I think I would've killed her. Then again I am being too harsh, she loved my father as much as me. That's a lie, she loved him _more_ then me. Her crying is enough to show for it.

"Miss Caraway."

I looked up to see two police detectives standing in front of me. One with brown hair and blue eyes. He looked like he kept himself always in an orderly fashion. But also looked like his job worn him down, since his face bore many winkles and he didn't look older then forty-five. The other one had spiky blonde hair, must have been in his twenties. He had a boyish look and I could tell he hadn't been on the job too long. The harsh world hadn't crushed his spirits yet.

"Heartily please."

"Okay, Miss Heartily." The older one repeated.

The two officers sat down across from me and the older one introduced them. "I am detective Miles and this is detective Cass. You have been waiting here for a long time. If you want to get some sleep we can talk to you after you rest."

"I would prefer to hear what you have to say now," I replied strongly. I waited long enough, I would be damned if I didn't hear what happened.

"I'll go get us some coffee," my maid said as she hurried to the kitchen.

"Okay," Miles glanced at his partner. "Well your father…well he's…dead."

"Oh you don't say," the sarcasm heavily dripped off my tongue. I shook my head, I must be extremely tired to keep lashing out like that. "I'm sorry, just please be frank. Don't go around the topic."

"Very well." Miles paused for a moment. "I'm sorry what do you want to know exactly?"

"How did he officially die? Someone place a bomb in his desk. That's what it looks like."

"No he died of a bullet to the head," detective Cass answered quickly and bluntly.

"Sniper?"

The detectives nodded.

That explained why the glass had to be blown. Otherwise a bullet would never get through it.

"That would have to be a well timed shot though." I argued. "Almost impossible really. I know my father's reactions. I dropped a glass one time and he hit the floor before I could even say sorry."

"Yes we know," Miles responded. "Which is why we know this was done by professionals. Not just some crazed lunatic."

"But I mean really, really well timed shot."

"More then likely the bullet was shot within a quarter or a second of the explosion."

"That's…crazy."

"We know," Cass agreed. "It must have been practiced over and over to get all the timing and variables down."

"Who do you think is capable of this?"

The maid came back with a tray of coffee. She handed mugs to the detectives and then one to me before setting the tray down to sit down herself.

Miles took a sip of his coffee. "It is obvious he wasn't liked by all. So it could be anyone, but a skill of this level is rare. They would have to be special ops of some government."

"Some government?" I repeated.

"Yes," Cass answered. "The bullet we found is an Estharian round, which matches to an Estharian rifle."

I gasped, "They wouldn't do something this bold. It surely means war."

"Yes it does," Cass continued, "Which is why we believe someone just got their hands on the rifle and aren't actually from Esthar."

"You're saying they are trying to start a war between the two countries. That's mad!"

"We don't think that was their intention," Miles rolled his coffee between his hands. "It was simply to throw off suspicion of it being someone from this country."

"So you have no idea who did this?" I asked looking for a straight answer.

Miles and Cass looked at each other.

"So you do?" People don't glance at each other if there is nothing to tell.

"We think…" Miles paused for some reason I don't know why.

"We think it was a certain group," Cass finished for him.

"What group," I asked. "Some terrorist group."

"No," Miles shook his head. "Well they usually aren't portrayed that way."

"I don't' know what you mean."

"Miss Heartily…have you ever heard of a group being referred to as 'the saints'."

My eyes widened. "You think it was them?"

"The skill in this assassination is right in their range," Cass explained. "We have worked on a few of their cases and each one is done strategically perfect. Sometimes involving crazy ideas that we would normally think impossible. We know they have a sharpshooter that's skill is far superior to any others we've seen."

"But they only kill scum," the maid interjected.

"Makes sense," I grunted.

"Rinoa!" the maid gasped.

"Miss Heartily I have noticed you aren't as grief stricken as people usually are," Miles addressed.

I sighed, "I wasn't on the best terms with my father. Don't get me wrong, I didn't wish this. I just have long lost all emotional attachment to him. Also plain and simple…he _wasn't _a good person.

"Interesting," Miles spoke softly.

"Miss Heartily what do you think about this group of vigilantes." Cass asked before taking a sip of his coffee.

"Honestly…I think what they do is great."

"You know killing is always wrong unless in strict defense," Miles stated.

"I don't believe that is true," I argued. "Murderers and rapist are always getting bail. Lawyers get the most evil people back on the streets. This group simply removes them. They take away the evil, what is wrong with that?"

Miles sighed. "There is a way to do things. That is not it. If I killed every person that caused me problems, believe me. A lot of people would be dead. But I don't. If I have a problem with someone I figure out a way to solve it, often times not resorting to any violence."

"They don't kill for grudges, the simply kill those that don't deserve life." I countered back. I rubbed my forehead. "Look, I don't want to argue over them now. Do you think they did this? Simple question."

"Yes we do," Cass answered.

I sighed and leaned back on the couch. "That means you're never gonna catch them."

"That's not true!" Cass shouted rising to his feet. I didn't flinch, my maid did though.

Miles looked tired as he pulled his partner back down into his seat. "Miss Heartily we are trying everything we can to find them. If you know anything about them it would greatly help our cause."

"I don't." I replied yawning. I need sleep.

"Well we have one video of them-"

"What?" I sprang up. I didn't know anyone had a video of them. I figured such a thing would be on the news in a second.

"Yes," Miles started again. "It has never been aired. There aren't any faces and no outward signs to recognize them. But maybe they talked to you at one point to get to know your father or your house. Maybe a way they walk, or move about. You might recognize something that could help us. Will you watch the video?"

"Yeah…of course."

Cass left for a second and came back with a laptop. He set it up on a coffee table between him and me. He punched in a few keys and clicked the mouse. After a couple minutes he spun the laptop around for me to see.

"Now you probably heard about this one. Done in the middle of the street. We clipped together some ATM machine cameras and other store security cameras to get a fairly good video of the whole thing. But just watch and see if you can recognize anything."

I nodded and felt a cold shiver spread all across my body waiting for this video. No one knows what they look like at all, and I was about to see at least their basic forms. I didn't know if they were fat, or just all guys, maybe all girls. This video will at least let me form a picture in my head of what they could look like.

First thing the video showed was darkness and rain. A lot of it, like the entire sky just opened up and let loose. The traffic was bumper to bumper. You could see how fast the rain was pouring in the headlights. The cars were shining from the light and the water. Then I saw a black limousine crawl into the camera. Sitting there completely normal. I was trying to think quickly in my head what one this was. I kept a good record of all their jobs.

Suddenly two cars on both sides of the limo began scrapping against it. It made me shiver hearing that noise. Like nails on a chalkboard. They stopped and I instantly remembered what job this was. The two cars blocked off the doors on the limousine. Then everything happened simultaneously. Two people dressed in black cloaks with the hood up, got out of the cars and one slid underneath the limo while the other went around to people's cars. He pointed a gun at them and by the looks of it, told them all to scatter. They all of course followed his orders with no comment.

While that was going on, there was another figure dressed in a long black cloak with the hood up. This one leapt up onto the hood of the limo. He took out a handgun and shot two holes into the car. I remember reading he hit some electric transmission shutting the car completely off. No power windows or anything would work. The people were stuck in the car. He continued to walk on the car's roof as he made his way to the back of the limo. He was carrying some box looking thing.

Another figure walked up to the driver's side door, carrying something in his hand. He tried the handle but it was locked. He smashed the window with his elbow and then reached in and unlocked it. He opened the door and pulled the driver out. He shoved him away from the car. Then he jumped onto the roof of the limo and handed the other person on top of the car what looked like a megaphone.

"Everybody listen up!" the voice shouted. The voice was obviously not his the way it sounded. It was way to deep; the megaphone must've had a voice changer on it.

The other man on the roof pulled out a drill and began working on the roof. Just a couple holes hear and there. He then took the box from the man speaking. He began dumping it on the car and in the holes. I remembered reading in the paper how it was gasoline. So the people in the car wouldn't shoot any handguns. Otherwise they would be blown sky high.

"Ladies and Gentlemen!" the man addressed the public. "Here in this car is a sinner! He has been dealing drugs for over five years now. He will do anything to make money! He will beat a child if that gets a parent to pay him money. He has been arrested but the man pressing charges mysteriously took a vacation and was never heard from again. This man's name is Tony Vozzo…fits doesn't it! We have decided that his life is a danger to all! We are making an example of Vozzo here! An example for all you out there. That we are _watching_! We are. If you step out of line, we will find you. All those that are out of line already, you better find a way to cram yourself back in it. 'But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out'."

I heard a faint scream coming from the video. It was obviously Tony yelling for help in the car. I could hear him pounding on the windows trying to get out. He was going mad inside the car. I knew he was just slamming himself against those tinted windows. Doing anything and everything to break them. He couldn't shoot them, due to the gasoline dumped on the car and through the holes. Unless he could kick a window out, which was almost impossible to do from inside a car. He was trapped like the shitty little rat he was, just awaiting his death.

"Now, now, Tony…be patient." The man continued. "We are not corruptible! We will not be bribed, we will not by swayed by political standing. If you are a sinner, you shall be punished, not matter who you are. So be weary Deiling, we are watching you! If you are innocent and live a good life. Then do not fear, we will not harm you! But if you are corrupt you have a date with the devil. So live well Deiling and rejoice, you finally have saviors protecting you!"

The two guys hopped off the car and I watched as the person slid out from under it. They all began walking towards an alley I saw in the back. The forth joined up with them. They all walked towards the alley and one by one entered it. I saw, who I assumed to be the leader, glance over his shoulder back at the scene. Then a large eruption as the explosions that the one put under the car went off. I heard screams and cries, but from what I could tell not anyone else got hurt. Except their intended target Tony Vozzo.

Then the screen went black signaling the end of the video. I turned the laptop back around.

"Well?"

I shook my head. "I didn't see anything helpful. Just the fact that they work amazingly well together."

"Yes they do," Miles agreed.

"Why wasn't this shown on the air? Is it because of the speech he gave? Do you not want people to hear it?"

"Yes that's part of it," Miles answered. "Also we know they only did that in the middle of the street so they could spread that message. It would be playing their game to play it on the air and it could be asking people to rise up and riot with them."

"They aren't rising up against anything," I argued. "He was simply stating their job. To kill the wicked and protect the innocent."

"Doing God's work?" Cass asked spitefully.

"Yes, you could put it that way." I replied strongly.

"That last part he said," Miles opened up a little note pad. "uh… 'But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out.' That is from Numbers 32:23. We have other occasions where we believe they do what they do because of God."

"Makes sense," I said.

"You don't think it's strange that they are killing in the name of God?" Cass asked.

"King David did the same," I replied.

Miles sighed and put his coffee down. "I think we're done here."

Both the detectives stood up.

"Miss heartily, we are sorry for your loss. We will do everything we can to get to the bottom of it," Miles tipped his hat and walked away.

"Miss Heartily," Cass spoke sternly. "If anyone that you don't know talks to you, and it doesn't seem right. Tell us immediately. There is a chance that they might go for you, but it's very slim."

"It's zero," I countered, "I haven't done anything bad."

Cass smiled, "Very well. Please stay safe."

I watched them go. I leaned back against the couch and rested an arm across my eyes.

"Rinoa dear, why don't you go to bed," my maid suggested.

"I waited hours to talk to them," I told her, "hours and they told me basically nothing."

"They were helpful I thought," the maid replied.

I quickly rose. "I'm going to get some rest. Tomorrow we'll discuss funeral arrangements alright."

"Whatever you wish Rinoa."

I thought my life was already bad. Little did I know that this funeral would be the start of an entire knew life for me.

* * *

**Three days later**

**Squall's POV**

"You clean up nice Squall."

I grunted, hoping she would just go away. I was in my room dressing myself, or _attempting_ to do it myselfbut Selphie and Quistis wouldn't leave me alone. Quistis I didn't mind so much since she was actually saying useful things. Like locations in the cemetery, and how many guards there were. Selphie was just circling me, analyzing the way I looked.

I was looking in the mirror as I tied my tie. I had to agree with Selphie though, I could clean up nice. I had some black slacks on with a white shirt and a dark gray vest. I wore a matching black suit coat and a black tie. A very dark look, but I was going to a funeral so it fit.

"Your tie is messed up," Selphie wisely pointed out.

"No it's not," I argued. It was perfect…right

"The knot is lopsided."

Before I could stop her, she grabbed my tie and undid it. She began tying it again and every time I reached for it she would slap my hands away. I gave up and let her do it as I messed with my cufflinks.

"So Squall what are you going to say to her exactly?" Quistis spoke from the bed.

"Honestly I don't really know yet," I replied.

"Not even the slightest idea?"

Selphie finished tying my tie and stepped back admiring her work.

"I will just talk to her for a bit, see how she is. Where she stands financially and whatnot. See how college is going, maybe we can threaten a teacher or something."

"We don't threaten," Quistis' voice dropped in warning.

"Right…of course we don't."

"Why do you think she'll need money she's rich?"

"The general makes a good amount of money, but he's dead. There will be checks for family support but that's it. The daughter will have to start not buying everything she sees, and might have to start to plan out some of her spending."

"But Caraway is beyond rich I thought?" Selphie said joining in the conversation.

"He is," I agreed, "Which is why I think he has unclean hands. Being a general gets you a good amount of money, but the way he spends it. Giving millions away on random things on random occasions. I know he is getting money from something else."

I watched Selphie get my fedora off my dresser. She placed it on top of my head, and angled it slightly. She then found the plain white scarf and rested it evenly around my shoulders. She walked around behind me and looked with me into the mirror.

"You look like a straight mobster," She commented.

"That's the idea." I made my way to the door with the two females following me.

I stepped out of my room and into the main living room. Zell, Seifer, and Irvine were sitting on the couch watching the television. When I entered they all directed their attention to me. I stood still waiting for them to pass judgment.

Seifer was the first to respond with a long whistle. "Going to take care of someone?" he joked.

"Yeah gonna break some thumbs," Zell joined in with laughter.

I sighed, "At least I know I am going for what I want."

"It'll work Squall," Irvine said actually thinking about the mission. "You'll blend in perfectly with the company Caraway probably kept."

"Alright then," I turned to Selphie, "Let's go."

She was dressed in a normal drivers get up. Normal as in what a limo driver might look like. We headed out the door and down the short straight hallway to the elevator. The trip to the bottom floor was short. Below the lobby, it was the basement level. We owned the entire basement level as well as the entire top level. We needed our space. Down here was where we kept all our cars. We needed many kinds, for all the jobs we do. Also we have a legal shooting range in the basement. We have to keep our skills up and practice with any new gun to assure our familiarity with it.

We got into a new '08 black Cadillac and were soon on our way to the funeral. We were going all out for this, we had to play every part correctly. Make it truly seem like I could have relations to the shadows. It would be the only possibly explanation for none of the maids or friends of Caraway to recognize me, and still pretend to know the man on a personal level. Which is why I am dressed like this and riding in the back seat. I am going to be that mysterious person that everyone glances at, but doesn't dare look at because they are too afraid. That is my aim, but when I talk to the daughter I plan on being the perfect kind person, if not mysterious a little.

Also what I am going to discuss with her is going to sound strange. If I am dressed so I already give off strange vibes, then me speaking strangely wont sound as bad. But in all honesty, I really have no idea how this is going to go. All I can do is sit and wait, thinking over every possible scenario I can thank of. Worse comes to worse, I will made a sprint for the car and Selphie will get me to safety.

After about a forty-minute car ride we made it to the cemetery. I was split on liking this ceremony being outside. It was good because I would be in the open and can easily get away if it goes wrong. It's bad because it is pouring out. It hasn't rained this much in weeks. I was going to get soak no matter what. And worse yet, it was only in the forties today. It's October, it shouldn't be so cold. Global warming my ass.

Selphie slowly drove through the cemetery. We saw a large mass of people and knew that was our destination. They already did the mass for Caraway. Now the priest was just doing the final blessing before lowering him into the ground. Now I know someone will be next to the daughter at all times. What I have to do is get her away somehow. My main fear is she will be bawling her eyes out. _That_ I won't be able to handle, because _I_ was responsible for her father's death and her grief. I can only hope she hasn't lost it all yet.

Selphie pulled up as close as she could. I saw many black umbrellas as people stood all around the priest. I couldn't see the daughter through the mob. I figure she was in the center somewhere, and after I would have to talk to her. I just hope that they don't whisk her away quickly because of the rain.

"Alright Selphie, when it looks like he's done speaking open the door for me," I told her putting on my leather gloves I brought with me.

"Gotcha."

"Where will you be?" I asked.

"Around somewhere close. I wont go too far, I should always be in your sight."

"Okay…You got the umbrella?"

"…Uh no." She turned around and looked at me.

I stopped mid glove, "You didn't bring it?"

"I didn't know I was suppose to," she said defensively.

"Fuck," I growled pulling my glove on. "Now I am gonna get soaked."

"Hey the people are dispersing," Selphie quickly directed the attention elsewhere.

"Whatever…just open the door."

"But I'll get wet," Selphie whined.

"Selphie…open this door _now_!"

"Okay Mr. Grouchy," she giggled and quickly scampered out of the car.

I took a breath, I had to stay calm. Selphie opened the door and I waited a moment. Just letting her get a little more wet.

"Squall…" she growled.

"Oh right," I fake ignorance and stepped out of the car.

She quickly worked her way around and got back in. She drove slowly away and I scanned over the area. There were so many people there. A massive black mob of depression and tears. Worst of all, it was for a man worthy of death. I adjusted my suit and began making my way towards the big crowd. A sickening thought how the nicest person could pass away but no one knows or cares. Yet when a political figure dies, everyone has to get worked up about it. Even if such a man deserved his fate.

I continued on my way only to be spotted by the security. I simply walked past him, acting to important to stop.

"Excuse me sir?"

I turned around, "What?"

"You can't just come here, you have to have been invited and a personal acquaintance of General Caraway." the guard told me.

I marched up to him. "You think I am not invited. You think I would just come out here all on my own, on a rainy day. Just to see a man buried. Believe me, I can see someone being buried whenever I want. I missed the actual funeral because I was taking care of some…business. Now if you will excuse me, I want to at least offer my condolences."

I swiftly turned around before he responded. I began making my way to the mob of people. Most of them were coming my way now, trying to get out of the rain, even though they already had umbrellas. I on the other hand, was getting soaked out of my mind. The water ran over the rim of my hat like a waterfall. Making it hard to see when it fell straight in front of my face.

I quickly pushed past people looking for my target. I couldn't help but notice as I walked past people they all glanced at my quickly. But not a single one would make eye contact with me…just as I hoped. I decided to keep my hat tipped, just to add to the appearance.

I could see enough just below the rim and through the water. I saw people whispering, obviously about me. I marched right past them, but my eyes still scanning everywhere looking for the girl that matched the picture online. I felt like I was walking forever before I finally saw her.

She was talking with the priest. A man stood besides her holding an umbrella over her head. I would have to guess that would be some butler of some sort. I continued walking closer and closer to them. Trying to think of what exactly to say to get her by herself. The priest shook her hand and she turned away from him. Now was the time to act.

I marched right up to her. She stopped and stared at me, and I noticed out of my _peripheral _vision everyone else was too. I lifted my head enough so she could see my entire face. I noticed that her eyes weren't red. Could she really not have been crying at all? The funeral is usually what give closure and brings the most tears.

"Umm…yes?" she asked obviously surprised that I just stopped in front of her without saying anything.

"Rinoa?"

"Yes?

"I was a _friend_ of your fathers," I implied the friend a little much on purpose so she would get the wrong idea.

"You're a little young," she commented.

"I may be, but I still have to offer my condolences."

"Okay."

I stared at the butler. He did not look happy at all that I was talking to her. But he also looked like he was thinking. Not zoning out, but thinking staring at me. As if he was trying to place a face. I know I never saw this man before in my life. Which meant one other thing. He knew of Caraway's shadow dwellings. He was trying to think if he knew me at all from the shadows.

"Can I speak to you alone for a moment?" I asked turning my eyes back to her.

"No you may not!" the butler shouted.

"Walter?" Rinoa turned to her butler a little shocked by his outburst.

"Miss _Caraway_ I do not like his kind. This boy brings trouble with him. Please let us leave."

"I think I can spare a minute," Rinoa replied.

"No, please look at this boy. He is dangerous, I can tell."

"Miss _Heartily_ please," I asked gently using the name I know she would want to hear and she obviously noticed.

She glanced between the butler and me. "Okay…let's go over there." She said leading me over to spot where no one was standing.

"You're getting wet," I commented. She didn't bring the umbrella with her…I was really hoping she would.

"I like the rain," she spoke softly holding out her arms wide letting herself get drenched.

I smirked at her antics.

"So what did you want to say?" She spun around and faced me. "Sorry about your father. It's terrible that someone would do that. He was a great person, and everyone will miss him. Something like that?"

"I…" I quickly shut my mouth. She quirked an eyebrow at me waiting for an answer. I took a breath. "If you must know…I think your father deserved to die."

Oh shit I can't believe it just said that. I just fucked everything up. God damn my mouth.

"Why would you say that?" she stepped closer to me.

"I'm sorry, it's-"

"No I mean, seriously…did you know what he did wrong?"

I watched her to see if she was joking. She didn't seem to be so I figured I might as well be honest. "Many things."

"Like what? He sent people to their deaths. That's what people usually complain about."

"No," I quickly responded. "He can be resented for that, but to be killed for it is going to far. Unless it was an unnecessary amount of bloodshed that he caused personally."

"Okay, why then?"

"He had connections to the shadows," I replied.

"Like you," she put her hands behind her back and leaned forward getting a better look at my face that I was previously hiding under my fedora.

I sighed, "Rinoa look. This is hard to explain, but I came here to apologize."

"I thought he deserved to die," Rinoa straightened herself. The tone of her voice was changing; she was starting to get mad.

"He did, that's not why I'm sorry. I'm sorry because you don't deserve this."

She looked shocked hearing that. "Me?"

"Yes you," I said again. "People tell you sorry this happened, but not many really understand. I do Rinoa. I want to tell you, _seriously_ want to tell you. That if there is anything I can do to help you, anything at all. Just ask."

"I didn't expect that from you," she kept staring at me.

"I'm not a bad person. I look like one the way I'm dressed but I'm not."

"Did you sneak in here to tell me that?" she asked bluntly.

Wow she's quite the smart one. I was expecting some crying hormonal college girl.

"Yes and no," I said. "I came in here expecting to say how sorry I was that such a great man died. But you aren't crying. You don't look like you just lost a father. You look like you care, but I can tell you knew he wasn't the best person. In fact I know it since you moved out of your house, probably trying to get away from him. Which is why I told you the truth. That he did deserve to die but I am sorry you have to deal with it all."

Rinoa sighed and turned looking over the cemetery. Her hair a complete mess, all in clumps and stuck to her face. But there was something still beautiful about her.

"The police think it was that group of people who go around killing scum."

Wow the police are working over time. "The saints?"

"Yeah, sacred killers, divine retributioners, peace keepers. Whatever they're called. The police think they did it, and I can understand why. You say he had connections to the shadows, but I never saw anyone that suspicious."

Now I was contemplating asking her questions about her father. This was going in a complete different direction I thought it word. Originally go in, say sorry, and get out. Now we are actually having a conversation about how bad her father was. A weird topic for sure, but this only shows me how good a person Rinoa is if she admitted her father wasn't. She is an interesting girl.

Ah hell I'll ask.

"Have you ever seen a little black book, or a notebook? Something your father wrote in?"

Rinoa thought for a moment, "No not really. We wrote on some papers but not ever in a book like that."

"Does your house have any secret places in it?" I asked taking a step forward.

"Not that I know of," she answered. Then her head snapped up. "Why? What's it to you?"

"Rinoa what do you think about the saints?"

She eyed me suspiciously as she thought about my question. "I think…what they do is good."

"Do you want them caught for your father?"

"No…that would end what they are doing which I believe it good. I can't say I'm too pleased with them right now. But they have never been wrong in their judgment. I know it sounds strange because he was my own father. But I feel like if _they_ did this…then it's alright."

"Rinoa," I placed my hand on her arm and leaned closer to her face. "What if I told you I know them? I know who they are and they sent me here to talk to you."

"What?" She shook her head. "No way, not possible. Why…why would they?"

"Because they didn't know you were his daughter," I replied. I am taking such a risk here. This is such a bad idea, but for some reason I feel like I can trust her. "They sent me to make sure you're alright. But now I need to know if you have ever seen a notebook that your father wrote in."

"I haven't…but you know them?"

"Rinoa," I saw her butler coming over now. He did not like the looks of this. He knew I was telling her something. "Check his study, there must be something. If you trust me that I know the 'scared killers' then in one month. November 1st, come back to this cemetery." I glanced around and saw a tree in the distance. "That tree over there, stand under it. Bring the book if you find it. If you don't find anything, then don't come and this will be like nothing happened."

"What…why? What's going on?" Rinoa saw me looking around and followed my gaze.

"Your butler Rinoa," I spoke quickly. "I don't know him, but I know he's not good. Don't tell him anything, and try and stay away from him." I let go of her arm and backed away. "One month Rinoa."

I hastily turned around and headed back towards the car.

* * *

**Rinoa's POV.**

I wasn't sure what was going on at all. This boy suddenly got nervous. He was cool, calm, and collected when he arrived. Now he was rushing. I turned around and saw my butler coming over.

"Your butler Rinoa," he spoke quickly and edgy. Like they were hunting him and he was telling me his dieing wish. "I don't know him, but I know he's not good. Don't tell him anything, and try and stay away from him." He let go of me and began walking backwards. "One month.

I was so lost, I didn't know what was going on. This man that looked so suspicious like a mobster or someone. Ending up to be the Saints messenger or something like that. It was too crazy. They just made contact with me. I was beginning to breath harder. It was a rush to think about. I watched their messenger walk back to his car. He glanced over his shoulder once at me and my heart stopped. He looked exactly like the leader of the saints in the video right before he entered the alleyway.

He wasn't simply a messenger sent by them.

"He's…the…the leader," my legs went numb and I fell to my knees.

He was the _leader_ of the saints of Deiling and I just talked with him personally. I just talked with the man everyone was looking for. The man that nobody knows the face off. The man doing God's Dirty Work. The man whose group is single handily cleaning the dirt in this city. The man who just _killed_ my father. I felt light headed and the next thing I knew there was darkness.

* * *

**Well there's that chapter. Not too sure, it seems a little quick but I got this story outlined. It should be a very quick moving story I think. Please leave a review, it helps me a lot to update quicker.  
**


	4. Confrontation

**Author's Ramble: Thanks for the reviews, they really means a lot. Okay so as you might notice I kinda have just been skipping a lot of days between chapters and sometimes even in chapters. You could say its kinda moving fast right now. That isn't going to happen as much once I get more into the story, and my story should slow down soon too. Also I wont be skipping between Squall and Rinoa's POV in the middle of the chapter as much...I think.**

* * *

**Rinoa's POV**

I have no idea what to do. It's been three days after the funeral. After I met whom I suspect is the leader of the Saints. I was lying on my bed, in my room, back at my house. I just kept thinking about my next move. For all I know he might not have been the leader. I am basing this off an over the shoulder glance. A ridiculous idea for sure, but I just know, from deep down in my gut, that it is the same guy. Besides, even if he isn't the leader, he has to know them in some way.

Then again maybe he's just some sketch ball who wants to get me alone. But then again that's just dumb. I don't even know why I just thought that. But even if I wanted to go back in a month and meet him, I have no evidence. I got nothing off my dad. He told me not too show up if I don't have anything.

I sat up in my bed and crossed me legs. "Okay so first thing first. I gotta find something to bring. If I can't, then I wont go. Because if do find something, then _he_ wasn't lying."

I hopped off my bed and headed downstairs. The boy said to check the study so I might as well start there. It was a quick walk to the study, just over a minute. Being sarcastic…a minute walk to reach a room in a house is ridiculous. There is a certain size all houses should be and I think mine passes that limit.

After my minute long trudge I pushed open the double doors. I walked into the ornate room. My father loved it in here and I guess I could see why. It was nice, but a little too fancy for me. I'm like any girl, I like riches and being showered with gifts. But I also love nature and just relaxing in a comfortable room. This room reeked of business and stature. Although now with the window blown out and the desk missing. It didn't resemble those two as much.

The glass will be replaced in a couple days. I wanted normal glass but my butler, Walter, insisted on getting the old bulletproof glass. Said it was too much in the open. He apparently told my father that…guess he was right. As of now, there are more guards patrolled around the house. A large plastic tarp was put up for a temporary replacement of the window to break the wind. Because wind and a study just don't mix.

I didn't know where to start. Well first I locked the door, might as well get privacy. Now I have to make a decision. I could do this stealthy where I just search every little corner and maybe I'll find it with no one knowing. Or because that would take way to much time, I just trash the place. Rip every book off the wall and toss it in a pile on the floor. Then I can just do an easy quick search of this room. If anyone sees me I'll just say this room has bad memories.

Oh yeah Rinoa, good thinking.

So I went with the second. I flung myself at the selves. I glanced at the book in my hand, if it looked official it was tossed into one pile. If it looked hand written or notebook style. I tossed it in another. It was a thought out organizing system in my opinion. It was messy but it would give my maids something to do. As of now they just keep bothering me for something to do. I can only imagine that my dad ran this house like a slave master. Ordering them to do everything he could think of. I wonder if he even dressed himself in the morning. Probably not with the way these maids are. I don't even know how I lived here before, I just find them annoying now.

It took about a half an hour to _separate_ all the books. I went through the _suspicious_ pile a little more thoroughly. That took about twenty minutes and I found nothing. I was a little frustrated, but then again I wasn't expecting to find anything quick. For all I know this person could have been completely wrong about my dad. Maybe besides being a general, he didn't do anything worth looking down upon. Besides being a terrible father that is.

Pushing those thoughts aside I began touching everything in the study. Pulling on the candles near the fireplace. Pushing against the walls. Hoping something might work, but sadly nothing did. I sat down in the middle of the floor, with a stack of books up to my head next to me. I just kept examining the room with my eyes. Trying to think like my father. Where he might hide something. The more I thought about it, the more I realized he wouldn't hide something in his study. Others might believe this is where he spends a lot of his time. But there is another room…one much more private.

I quickly leaped up off the ground and rushed out of the doors. I ran past a couple maids standing at the door. They had a worried look on their face. I figure they heard the noise in the study but were too afraid to speak up. I have been yelling at them a lot lately. So much so, I think they might start avoiding me soon. I'm sure that they are just assuming I'm taking my father's loss hard. Whatever they wanna believe, as long as they leave me alone.

At least I now knew where I was headed. I rushed up the stairs and down the long hallway. I reached my father's bedroom and shoved my way in. This was truly his most private room in the whole house. The study anyone could enter in, but his room he didn't allow anyone. Not even the maids to clean it. Not that it needed cleaning. My dad being a general, kept things in a perfect orderly fashion. I never saw one thing out of place in his room. Might just be him being OCD…or maybe he was keeping it clean to know if someone was ever going through it.

Didn't matter now…I could make a big of a mess as I wanted. I quickly made my way around his room. Pulling apart drawers and digging through his closest. Going through the small bookshelf he had in the corner. I plopped down on his bed after another exhausting failed search. Maybe my father wasn't as dirty as most expected him. Or maybe he wasn't really dumb enough to keep a record of everything. Wasn't that only in the movies when someone kept a book that could be stolen? Then again they always hide them in dumb paces like under the mattress…

I practically dove to my knees and jammed my hands under his mattress. My hand landed on a hard square shape.

"No fucking way."

I hastily withdrew my hand and stared at what was resting in it. A black book no bigger then six inches long. I leaned my back against the bed as I sat on the floor flipping through the book. I didn't understand much but I could tell he had dates on here. He also had digits that must represent amounts…I had to guess the amounts were of money. I flipped to the last page he wrote on. It had numerous dates and places listed. When I checked all the dates I realized that all of them were up and coming. Which meant that these _events_ hadn't happened yet.

"Rinoa?" My head snapped up towards the doorway. It was my butler Walter. "My dear what are you doing making a mess in your fathers bedroom.

_Stay away from your butler._ The boy's words rang in my head. I knew Walter since I was little and I only knew the _boy_ for a minute. But as of right now, the boy spoke the truth and I never did like the feeling of Walter. His arched back and his sneaky smiles always creeped me out.

"What do you have there my dear." He began walking closer to me.

I turned around placing my hand down acting like I was using it to get up. In reality while my back was turned to my butler. I silently ripped the last page out and stuffed it down my shirt. I stood up and confronted him with a smile.

"I found this book," the look of recognition on Walter's face was enough to prove he knew this book. "I think it was my dad's journal," I played dumb.

"Oh my dear let me see," he yanked the book out of my hands before I could even respond. "I'll take care of this. Why don't you get something to eat?"

"That's a good idea." I smiled and skipped off. Just acting dumb like how he always thinks of me. Walter always thought I was ditsy and troublesome. Sneaking off at night sometimes to go to parties. Arguing with my father, who Walter had some weird relationship with. Which I now understand what it was…maybe?

I now knew that I did indeed have to meet up with that _boy_ in the cemetery November 1st. Whether he is the leader or just a messenger like he said. He was telling the truth and I want to know how he knew. I want to know what he knows exactly. I want to know a lot of things but one I think I do know, is only that one _boy_ will be able to answer my questions.

Now just to get through the month.

* * *

**October 31****st**

**Squall's POV**

I checked my phone to see one single word across the screen.

Ready.

I snapped it shut and slid it back into my pocket.

We were currently on a job. The man's name was Edward Burch. He was involved in numerous activities including…transporting people as workman, which translates into slave shipping. He also takes girls from orphanages and sometimes just out of places like a park. Many missing child ads have been issued because of him. He raises them until they are old enough to look _appealing._ He then sends them to some other country as prostitutes. By the time the girls are shipped off they don't even struggle, they except there fate. A terrible man for sure.

Then of course the usual drug sales and gun trading. That's just about everyone though, so we focus more on the serious matters. People directly harmed by him.

Well tonight he was going to pay. He was practically begging us to kill him by throwing a party. Not just a party, a costume party. Seriously this man's a dumbass to do that. I just bribed the bouncer to let me pass into the nice ballroom. Yes ballroom… Burch was extravagant. So everyone was dressed in crazy costumes. Some women wore dresses that looked mid-century. They were being escorted by gentleman wearing big white wigs. Others were dressed more modern, looking like werewolves and knights. It ranged from all over at this.

I was dressed like a vampire. That's right, the classic cape, teeth, and slick greased hair. Not this new age _Twilight_ shit. Gay ass book…Anyways, since my team was ready, it was time for me to move.

I glanced around the room and spotted Selphie. I turned my head the other way and spotted Zell. Perfect. I set my drink down on the table I was standing next to. I scoped out my target from across the room. I nodded my head to no one, but I knew Zell and Selphie were watching. I started my march towards my target. My cape trailing in my wake.

I pushed my way through the crowd. My target was laughing hysterically about something. So much so he was even spilling red wine on himself. I wondered if he even noticed. Then again it didn't matter too much. Seeing how that red wine would soon be replaced by his blood.

Damn that's a gruesome thought ain't it? This jobs getting to me.

He must have noticed because he suddenly looked saddened and embarrassed. He bowed his head and turned around. I sped up to reach him. When I did I through my arm around him like an old buddy of mine. I just smiled dumbly, faking like I was drunk.

"Hey _Bitch_ this is a great party."

"It's _Burch_," he growled warningly. He could be a jolly fellow but I guess getting his name wrong is not high on his list

I opened my mouth wide, "I'm sorry. Birch…Burch. Great name, I like it a lot."

"That's great," he replied spitefully, "can you let go of me now."

"Why Burch?" I laughed for no reason as I kept leading him to the spot we picked out.

"Because this is invading personal space."

"Ah!" I jabbed my finger into his cheek. "That's a good one."

"Let go of me now before I kick you out," apparently he was losing patients. Then again I gotta give it to him for making it this far. Someone did this to me? They would be dead in a second. Then again he doesn't do anything actually violent. So he is more then likely just bluffing. I don't think this man has ever shot a gun in fact. Just one of those creepy fat white guys who think they can make it in the underworld.

Before I could come up with some other dumb reply I heard a loud pitch scream.

"Did you just touch my ass!"

"Hey girl," this voice behind me slobbered over his words. "You know your ass ain't big enough for me to touch it. I would miss if I tried."

"How dare you!"

I smirked. It was working perfectly. Selphie and Zell walked across the floor and Zell sneakily touched Selphie's ass. Then she overreacted attracting major attention onto them. I kept Burch from looking over his shoulder by tugging him harder as I hurried my pace.

"That's it! Let go of me," he hissed, "you have definitely invaded personal space."

"Yeah," I growled back not faking drunk anymore. "How much personal space do you think those people you ship all over have? Can you answer me that?"

His eyes widened in shock.

"Yes _Burch_, I know all about what you do." He tried to get away but I slid my arm from his shoulder to tightly around his neck.

"You say you didn't touch my ass and now you are staring at my chest!" I heard Selphie shout extremely loud.

"What's to look at? You're a surfboard."

"_What_!"

Oh shit, I think Zell just pushed it a little far. Can't worry about that now though.

Burch started struggling as hard as he could and he shouted but I managed to put my hand over his mouth. Everyone was staring at the center of the ballroom where Zell and Selphie were yelling at each other. I had all the time in the world. I quickly let go of his mouth and reached into my vest I was wearing. I withdrew a large knife.

Burch took his chance to yell as soon as my hand left. "Someone he-"

A knife running into your gut will cut a sentence short. You don't die instantly either. All you do is lose your breath. Like when you fall hard on your back and the wind gets knocked out of you. You just work on breathing and don't care about anything else. I just pulled harder on him dragging him to his future-resting place as he kept huffing for breath.

"Burch you have done very bad things. Shipping people as prostitutes, selling people as slaves. Drugs, weapons too. You are not a good person. Therefore I am your punisher. You deserve this. And maybe you shouldn't throw a party when you're a criminal…just a thought."

I reached the other end of the room to where a buffet table was set up. A couple people were standing at one end but they were watching the distraction in the middle. Just when I reached the trashcan I slid the knife across his chest opening the wound more. The sound of ripping flesh is never pleasant but I learned to live with it. The blood ran down easily now, some spraying onto my hand. I just shoved him into the trashcan with the knife still in his chest. He flipped into it head first, so his feet were sticking straight up. I pushed them down quickly before walking away.

Irvine and Seifer came out dressed in servant uniforms. They picked up the trashcan and began making there way to the kitchen. They were going to head to the back of the building and dump the body into the dumpster. I looked back at Selphie and Zell. I managed to catch Zell's eye and he got the signal. I then quickly made my way out of the building.

As I was leaving I heard Zell and Selphie say the last words.

"You know lady I like you," Zell still spoke sounding like he had something in his mouth. Slobbering over most of his words.

"Oh yeah?" Selphie huffed.

"Care to come back to my room with me?" Zell asked not so gentlemanly.

Selphie giggled, "You silly man. Did you just use this as an excuse to talk with me?"

"Yes I did."

"Okay then."

I left through the door. I knew where everyone was at this moment. We mapped it all out. I made my way to the street. I walked down a couple blocks just waiting for my ride. I heard a car slow down and I glanced over my shoulder to see Selphie driving. I quickly hopped into the back seat and we were off again.

I felt my phone vibrate and I fished it out. Once again across the screen I saw just one word.

Out.

It meant that Irvine and Seifer are in their car also making it back to the apartment. Another job well done. Now just a nice peaceful car ride home. A shut my eyes extremely exhausted from the past few days planning this. It was almost ten and about an hour ride home. Maybe I could get some sleep.

"A _surfboard_ Zell?"

Ah shit.

* * *

After about a half an hour I managed to tune out Selphie and Zell enough to fall asleep. It was one of those quick naps. When as soon as you close your eyes, you are being woken because you arrived at your destination. Strange how a second to you can really be a half an hour in the world.

I trudged out of the car and made my way towards the door connecting the garage and the shooting range. Selphie and Zell were behind me but still in discussion. I quickened my pace a little making my way through the door and over to the elevator. I pressed the button and stepped in.

I wasn't sure whether to wait for Zell and Selphie or just go up myself. Our own private elevator was nice, but the trip all the way up with no stops still took about a minute. I should just wait an extra ten seconds so they don't have to wait a couple minutes.

I heard the door open and their voices. I could wait a couple seconds.

"Zell it just wasn't necessary to go that far." I heard Selphie whine.

I quickly pressed the button and the doors shut saving me from the torture. I felt the elevator jerk as it began its ascent. I wasn't in the mood to hear about their arguing.

I was meeting with Rinoa Heartily tomorrow. I groaned and stroked my forehead. My team was not pleased when they found out I told her so much. Hell I wasn't happy about it either. I just lost it. They tell me I get a little excited and get risky when I get desperate. And I am very desperate to get that book. Then again it is only a rumor, that book might not exist. If it doesn't, I put our whole team in danger for nothing. Bottom line…I screwed up. There was no need for me to tell her that much.

But I did…now we are dealing with it.

The elevator jerked to a stop and the doors slid open allowing me to step out. When I was walking down the short hallway to reach our apartment I heard the elevator doors shut and head back down. Maybe if I retreated to my room quick enough they would all leave me alone? I know they are going to want to _discuss_ what I did one more time. They haven't left me alone about it yet. Honestly I can understand that, if someone else did what I did. I would be on their case too.

I entered my room shutting the door behind me. I stripped down to my boxers before putting some plaid pajama pants on. I slipped into bed and pulled the covers up to my chin. I just shut my eyes when I heard the knock on my door.

"I'm sleeping!" I shouted.

"No you're not!" Seifer's voice shouted back. When I didn't respond he continued. "I'll kick this door down. You know I will. So you better open it!"

I sighed. I knew he would go through on that promise. I slid out of bed and made my way over to the door. I opened it and before I could speak Seifer grabbed me by my shoulder and yanked me out of the room. He dragged me over to the couch and pushed me down. I glanced around to see everyone in the room. All standing around me forming a semi-circle.

"What?" I started the inevitable.

"You know what," Seifer growled.

"Look I already explained this." I sat up resting my elbows on my knees. I folded my hands and pressed them against my head. "I know I risked a lot by telling her what I did. But she seemed innocent. She likes what we do. If she told the cops we'll know, and we just wont go. Besides, I am not even supposed to see her tomorrow and I am the only one she knows. So there shouldn't be any main problems. We have planned the situation out. If everything goes according to plan then nothing bad will happen."

"If it goes according to plan," Seifer folded his arms. "Many of our plans work. But this one I just got a feeling."

"I know you guys are pissed at me," I raised my eyes to meeting all their stares. "I would be too if I were you. But the fact remains I did it. We can make the best out of it if we try."

"Squall?" I turned to face Quistis who was hugging her elbow with her left hand. "What if we just don't go tomorrow?"

I sighed and leaned back stretching my arms across the top of the couch. "That is a possibility. If we don't go, then nothing will happen. We will continue our lives like normal…or as normal as they are." I sat up raising a finger. "But…if we do go and she is there. Holding the book we have heard about. Then think of the people we could save. This could be a big deal."

"Okay let's say she does bring the book." Zell purposed. "What then? Do we just take it and leave? Do we offer some explanation? _Hope_ she just doesn't care. That is what I don't know."

"_Hopefully_ we don't offer any," I replied. "_Hopefully_, she doesn't want one. _Hopefully _she'll have the book. _Hopefully_ people stop killing each other and everyone can live in peace. Damn it Zell I don't know!" I raised my voice catching everyone off guard. I settled back down and waited a moment. "Look…I say we just go. If it doesn't feel right…we'll pull out."

"Squall, we are hoping this all goes to plan also, ya know," Irvine said.

"Yeah," Selphie backed up her boyfriend. "We want this to work out. It's just weird that we are in this situation and its confusing us. Especially since it's just something you would never usually do."

I nodded my head. "I know. Like I said I'm sorry, I shouldn't have. But I did…now we can just follow through."

"I think that's fair," Quistis agreed.

"Okay," I rose from the couch. "Well I'm going to bed."

"It's a little early don't you think?" Zell asked.

I smirked, "Remember I didn't tell her a time. We gotta be there fairly early."

"Great now I don't get to stay up!" Seifer threw his hands in the air. "What is this, a school night…fuck!"

"Now now, watch your mouth or you'll get a detention," Quistis joked.

Seifer just growled before marching off to his room.

Everyone did the same, including me.

I honestly am not sure what is going to happen tomorrow. I hope everything goes as planned. Best possible thing would she just hands over this book, and leaves. What would suck if she asks us a lot of questions, or did call the cops on us. Hell I don't even know how helpful this book will be. Damn I really messed up. This is such a risk. I never take unnecessary risks. It was an action of a kid. Just says and does whatever without thinking in advance. It doesn't matter, I have had a month to plan this day. Hopefully everything does according to plan and we can just forget this all together.

* * *

**November 1st**

**Rinoa's POV**

I finished blow-drying my hair. I was sitting in my room back at my old house in front of little dresser with a mirror mounted on it. I put the blow-drier down and just gazed at my reflection. The month took forever to drag by. I looked every week to find the book again but I never could. I knew my butler Walter hid it. When I brought it up again he simply said, _I should respect my father's privacy_. Which obviously meant, he just was keeping it out of my hands. I wasn't too sure why, but taking the _boy's_ advice, tried to stay clear of my butler as much as I could. A rather difficult task when he was supposed to serve me.

I still planned on going to the cemetery even though I only had one page. It wasn't much, but it did prove that he did have connections in the shadows. Which might be able to help the Saints. Now I just am trying to figure out who that _boy_ really was. If he was just a messenger, or if he was in fact…the leader. I really don't know but that is one of my main goals today. Besides that I am not really sure how this is going to go. Am I just gonna hand the page over, explan why that was all I could get. Then they just leave with a _thank you_ and I never see them again. I bet that's what they want, but it's not what I want. I want my questions answered and I had many.

I pushed myself away from the dresser and rose from my chair. I did one last check over in the mirror. Tight jeans that stopped just above my ankles with a long-sleeve blue shirt. It was simple wear but it was enough. I grabbed my phone and checked the time. It was a bit after noon. I slipped it into my pocket. I then reached deep into my clothing drawer and found the one page I ripped out. I slipped it into my other pocket and made my way out the door.

I didn't see any maids or Walter as I walked through the mansion. I was happy, I didn't want to explain where I was going. If they did ask, I was simply going to say to have lunch with some friends. A simple answer is always the most believable.

I reached the main door and I grabbed my black Pea coat off the coat hanger. I turned the knob on the door and stepped out…just to crash into Walter.

"Pardon me Miss," he smiled apologetically. "Where are you going?"

"To lunch with some friends," I responded.

"Oh can I give you a lift?" he asked.

"No that's okay. I am just going to take a taxi and then we are going to walk the mall a bit. I don't think you have to drive me."

"But Miss I insist." He smiled again and I don't know why I didn't realize how fake a smile he had until now.

"No really that's okay," I persisted and tried to push my way past but he blocked me.

"My dear really, let me drive you. I have two friends with me and they wont mind. I will just drop you off and we'll be on our way."

Now there would be no reason that I would normally decline his offer. If I refused too much he would begin to get suspicious. The only problem was I had no friends to go to lunch with. I would have to text someone just to make it seem real. But I couldn't just skip the cemetery. I know that if I miss this one day, they wont come again.

"Okay fine." I caved in knowing there would be no way out of it.

"Excellent!" he cheered. "Just hop in the back of the limo."

I made the walk over to the side of the house where the driveway was. I hopped into the back seat and was confronted by another man. He nodded his head at me and smiled respectfully. His arm was resting on a big case and I would've usually been more curious towards it, if I wasn't trying to think my way out of this. I looked up front to see the separator was down. Through the open space I saw another man in the passenger's seat. Walter sat in the driver's seat and he glanced over his shoulder at me.

"Miss these are my two friends. That's Mike in the back with you and up here is Shawn."

I said my hellos and they did to. All three of them looked the same. Middle age, maybe a bit older. All with short neat brown hair…and all with fake smiles.

"Okay Miss where is it you would like to go?" Walter asked looking in the mirror back at me.

"Well I was wondering if we could stop at the cemetery before we go to lunch," I asked improvising.

"Okay Miss, wherever you want."

Walter began driving and he made small talk with his two friends. I just sat their idly trying to remain calm even though my insides where going crazy. I wasn't sure what I would do next. As soon I go towards that tree and not my father's grave he would know something would be up for sure. I would have to make that up when I got there. I whipped out my phone and sent a quick text to my friend Natasha.

Meet me at the mall in half and hour. It's important.

I snapped my phone shut. As long as she goes then I can still act like that was my plan all along. The drive went fairly quick, probably because I was so nervous.

I was still trying to think of an excuse to tell Walter when I watched him drive past my father's grave. I was shocked but I kept my mouth shut to see where he was going. He pulled up about fifty yards from the tree the _boy_ told me to wait under.

"Walter?"

"Miss I'm not stupid." He turned around in his seat and made eye contact with me. "I know you were going to meet that _boy_. I just want to be here to make sure he doesn't try and steal you or anything."

"…" I was at a loss for words. He had the wrong idea completely, but I might as well go along with it if that made it easier. "Thank you Walter."

I quickly stepped out of the car and made my way over to the tree. It was fairly tall and it had some girth to it. I leaned against it and glanced to my right back at the limo. It just sat there. It's black shine matching the aura the cemetery gave off. I looked around my surroundings. To my left I saw a punk looking spiky blonde-haired kid sitting in front of a gravestone. He was talking to the stone and I felt my heart lurch for him. I found it extremely sad to see him sitting there. Smiling and just talking, as if the person could hear him.

People always say the dead can still hear you. For the sake of the boy I hope that it's true. Maybe for my sake as well, because that blonde reminds me of myself when I would sit and tell my mother's gravestone long stories about what I was up to. It makes you feel better about their death if you visit and talk to them. I told my mother the most pointless things. From what the hottest boy was doing, right down to some detention I might've gotten. I just told her anything. It's funny that I would tell my dead mom more things than to my dad when he was alive.

Then for a moment I felt alone. Really alone. Sure I had a couple friends, but all my family was gone. I had no one I could really turn to if I needed help. Now I wasn't sure if I could even be safe with my butler anymore. I hate cemeteries. They always remind me of what I lost. Every Christmas I will be celebrating it alone. Every kind of family function I won't have anymore. I'm only nineteen and I don't have parents. I felt like I was going to let a tear slip but I held it back. I wasn't going to start crying now.

I glanced back over at the blonde and I found myself smiling slightly as I watched the boy chuckle after he said something. He leaned back on one arm and waved the other around while telling some story. I couldn't help but feel happier watching him just enjoy himself. I honestly wish whomever he's talking to hears him.

To get my mind off the depressing thoughts I continued to look around and I saw another young man. This one was dressed in a long brown trench coat, with what I could only imagine was a cowboy hat on his head. He was walking in the blonde and my direction. He kept his hat tipped so I couldn't see his face. He was still quite the distance away but he drew ever closer.

I glanced back at the Blonde just in boredom and I almost flinched when I saw him looking back at me. He patted the ground as if saying _sit._ I titled my head but he only patted the ground once more before turning back to the gravestone. I wasn't sure if he was really directing me to sit or what. After contemplating it another moment I decided I might as well. I sat down leaning my back against the trunk of the tree and stretching my legs straight. I glanced at the boy again and watched as he reached behind him and patted the ground.

I did as shown and my hand landed on some paper underneath a small pebble. I quickly snatched it and brought it in front of me. I unfolded it and quickly scanned my eyes over it.

Rinoa, if you are reading this then you have the book. If you do not have the book then at this very instant put this note back and _walk away_. There is no point in you being here. If you do have the book. You should see a cowboy walking towards you. When he reaches the street he will trip and fall. Do not help him…do not move…do not look anywhere but at the cowboy. A man will appear behind you. Give the book to him and then just sit there another moment. Do not move an inch. Everyone around you will disappear. Then you can leave. If you follow these instructions then you have saved more lives then you can count.

I quickly glanced back up at the cowboy and he was almost at the street. I just watched him as he drew ever closer. A chilly wind blew, causing me to wrap my arms around myself. The cowboy's trench coat blew sideways but he just kept his pace. His hat still tipped so I never could see his face. I glanced back at the blonde but he was still talking to the grave as if he wasn't in on it. Which I now knew he was.

I reached into my pocket and pulled the page out. Wonder what they will do when they see I only have a page. Will they be mad? Will they even accept it? Will they stay longer and ask me about it? I wasn't sure what they were gonna do but I honestly hopped for the latter.

"Ouch!"

My head snapped up. The cowboy was face down in the street. I kept staring at him, I wasn't suppose to move the note said. I just kept staring at the cowboy who just rolled on the ground a little.

Even though I knew someone was supposed to show up behind me, that didn't stop me from jumping when he spoke.

"Do not turn around," the voice was harsh. "Just give me the book."

Shit shit shit. What do I do? I twisted my arm around just holding the one page. He snapped it out of my hand.

"What is this?"

"There was a book but I could only get a page out of it," I quickly replied. This voice was scaring me. It was harsh and rushed. It was obviously not the other boy I talked to.

"Fuck," I heard him mumble.

The cowboy started to get up and he glanced at me and made a face. It wasn't actually at me, but to the man behind me. As if saying _what are you still doing_. The man behind me cursed again. He obviously wasn't sure what to do now. The Cowboy fake stumbled again to buy more time. I don't know why they needed more time, or I didn't until he glanced at the limo.

His eyes widened before his head snapped back towards the man behind me. "Get down!"

I felt an arm fly around my neck swinging me to the ground. I was dragged a bit behind the tree more. I looked over my shoulder to see another blonde with the same scar as the _boy_ from before lying next to me. He looked pissed and suddenly I heard something _whiz_ past me. Cutting through the air making a quick and short, but extremely distinguished sound. It took me a second to realize that it was a bullet.

The Blonde behind me pulled out a gun from under his gray trench coat. I tried to get away but he kept his arm around me neck. He pointed the gun at my head and I froze.

"The fuck did you do girl," he hissed in my ear.

"I didn't do anything." I choked out. I heard another couple _whizzes_ meaning more bullets. I saw the cowboy dive next to us, also hiding behind the tree. I glanced back to my left as much as the blonde would let me. The other blonde was hiding behind a grave stone.

"Who's in the limo?"

I didn't realize it was directed at me until the handgun was pushed harder into my head.

"Who's in the limo?" The blonde repeated.

"My butler and his friends." My legs were kicking trying to get free. This man's arm was getting tighter by the second and I was starting to see spots. My hands where digging into his arm as much as I could trying to get him to release me.

"Boss said not to trust the butler," the Cowboy told the blonde.

"Girl I'm gonna ask this one time and if I don't believe you I will put a bullet through your head right now."

I would've said _what_ but I didn't want to waste the breath.

"Are you apart of this?"

"For God's sake…no!" I chocked out as loud as I could.

He grunted and then released my neck. I instantly began coughing and heaving, my body trying to get as much air as possible.

"Damn limo's got sprays." The Cowboy stated.

"Where's the car?"

Just as he said it a car came flying up the road. To be more precise, it was a maroon mini-van with tinted windows. The driver stuck a handgun out the window and began unloading the magazine at the limo. The blonde that was talking to the gravestone earlier made a mad dash to the car. He threw open the side sliding door and dove in. He left it open and ushered us over with his hand.

"Let's go!" the Cowboy shouted.

Then to my surprise the scar-faced blonde grabbed me by my arm and dragged me with him to the car. He raffled off his gun at the limo also. I kept ducking every time he shot. Just a natural reaction of my body. I wasn't use to gunfire. I dove into the car and the blonde literally landed on me.

I managed to look at the limo right before I dove into the mini-van. I saw Walter leaning out of the driver's side door holding an automatic. His one friend Shawn was leaning out the other door. Then Mike was sticking out of the sunroof in the back of the car. They were all spraying at us and the mini-van was taking more holes every second.

I heard the door slam shut and I watched the Cowboy get into the passenger's seat. The driver, who was a girl (something I wasn't expecting) threw the car into reverse and slammed on the gas. The blonde rolled off me and fell to the floor. In another second I also flew off the seat and landed on him.

"The fuck is going on!" I heard the driver's voice shout.

The windshield took maybe five bullet holes before cracking throughout making it impossible to see through. Then we were out of their range and down a hill so they couldn't see us. The car slid to a stop but the commotion in the car didn't.

"What are we doing?" the Cowboy yelled.

"Let's take them!" the scared-faced blonde shouted.

"We can just take off!" the other blonde suggested also yelling.

"Hell no!" the scared one yelled again. "They tried to kill us! And obviously they know about Caraway's dirty work. We have the reason to."

"I say we take them!" the Cowboy shouted in agreement. "For Rinoa's sake as well! We can't just kick her out and drive away!"

Oh God would they do that.

"Okay fine! Let's just do something!" the spiky blonde yelled.

"Get the goods!" the driver yelled jabbing her thumb towards the trunk.

I was still lying on the blonde while the smaller blonde dove over the seat and reached over the back row into the trunk. The scared-faced blonde threw me onto the middle seat and stood crouched in the car. The spiky blonde began passing guns towards the other blonde. I had no idea what they were but they weren't pistols. I could only imagine them being automatic spray guns.

"Rinoa!" My head snapped to the driver. "Get in the back and stay down!"

I got off the floor just in time to see a medium sized rifle pass me. The scared blonde handed it to the Cowboy.

"If you make this shot man, I'll kiss ya." The Spiky blonde joked and they all laughed.

I watched the Cowboy hit out the rest of the glass with the butt of his gun. He rested the stand on the dashboard. I don't know much about guns and shooting. But I do know that to snipe in a moving car is impossible. The driver handed him duck tape. He taped the stands to the dashboard so it wouldn't bounce. He then rested it against his shoulder.

"Ready!" He shouted.

"Ready!" The scared blonde slide open the right side door and leaned out of it with some type of spray gun.

I saw the other blonde diving back over the seat. I did the same in the other direction to get out of his way. I landed in the back row and watched as the Spiky blonde slid open the other door. He also leaned out of it with some type of spray gun. Then it hit me. They were going to charge head on against the limo.

"Ready!" the driver shouted. "Okay then…_let's_ _go_!"

They all shouted and the driver kicked the car back into life. The tires spun a second before catching and she took off down the road.

"Boy if you make this shot I'll kiss you too," the scared blonde laughed.

From the looks of all of them…they were enjoying themselves. That and they never said a name yet. I wasn't caught up in the adrenalin that much to miss out any chance opportunities. That also gave me some relief. They were staying secretive which meant they were still thinking straight. Maybe charging is the best solution? I sure as hell don't know.

"Rinoa!" I looked at the driver. "Get down okay?"

I did as I was told. I dropped to the floor wedged between the back row and the middle row. It was uncomfortable and I knew if they crashed it wouldn't be safe. But it was the safest from bullets.

"Okay here we go!" The driver shouted and I could feel us going over the last hill, now I knew we were on just a straightaway towards the limo.

Suddenly the car was filled with the fire of guns. There was a constant spray, I realized that the two blondes where going in an order so when one reloaded the other would still be shooting. Everyone now and then I would hear a louder _boom. _That was the riffle going off as the sniper tried to make the impossible shot. It was so loud I threw my hands over my ears. I don't know when I started screaming, I just found myself doing it. I closed my eyes and I felt the bullet casings roll up next to me. Some bounced on the ground and landed in my hair. Some smoke was coming off them, but they cooled fast enough so they didn't burn. It was just a weird feeling to be surrounded by them.

"Boy you gotta get that shot!" I heard someone shout over the bullets but I wasn't sure. I figured they were talking to the sniper. If he did hit one of them in a car flying towards them it would be the most impressive thing that I would ever witness.

Now you know in the movies when a lot is going on, time freezes because of all the thoughts a character is thinking. Well this was the point where time froze for me because so many thoughts were rushing through my head. The fact that I was lying on the floor of a mini-van, screaming my brains out. Bullet casings all around me. Rushing _my _limo with _my_ butler in it. Which means my butler and his friends are trying to kill me. Now I was with the Saints…_the Saints_! That was unbelievable in its own. This also meant that the _boy_ I met was in fact just a messenger since he wasn't here. I curled my knees up to my chest as two bullet holes appeared in the seat above me. I could literally die right now, and I was scared out of my mind. My heart was almost in my throat and I knew my pulse would be unreadable.

And when time unfroze…the situation only worsened.

"…_Selphie_!" The scream was loud, alert, and desperate.

The first name I heard…didn't make me happy because I realized soon after that what was about to happen was so bad that the one blonde _forgot_ about being secretive. I heard the two side doors slide close. I felt the car swerve left and then immediately break back right. My head slammed into the side of the car but that was the least of my worries. There was a loud explosion making my ears ring so loud I almost wanted to rip them off.

Then I was flipping. Not just me…the car. I screamed bloody murder as the car rolled over twice before skidding to a stop. My body was tossed around like a rag-doll in that car. I hit the ceiling and then back onto the seat. The glass shattered against the ground outside only to spray on me. I felt my face get cut and tried desperately to protect myself. When the car stopped my head was swimming and I was only hearing a deafening tone.

I felt someone put a hand on me. I looked up to see the scar-faced blonde screaming something at me. I wasn't sure what. It felt like a dream. I watched curiously as he began to turn upside down. I blinked trying to straighten my vision but it wasn't working. Then I heard a soft sound. The blonde dove on top of me and later I realized the people in the limo started shooting again.

All five of us were in a car, lying on its side. All beaten up, almost knocked out, ears ringing…and trapped. The blonde stayed on me covering me in case any bullets were able to get to us. I was lying on dirt since the glass was broken. Which almost meant I was lying on some glass but my Pea coat was preventing any serious harm. My hearing slowly came back and I could make out all the shouting again.

"Selphie!"

"I'm alright!" she shouted back.

"I'm okay!" it was the Cowboy.

"Zell!"

"I'm fine!"

"Rinoa!"

I trembled. It was a war zone I was in right now. Bullets flying all around us. It was only a matter of time before they killed us. If we tried to get out of the car they would easily pick us off. We were trapped, and we were going to die. My head was swimming and my whole boy ached. I couldn't stop shaking.

"Rinoa you'll be okay don't worry!" the blonde shouted still lying on top of me. He could obviously feel me tremble and shaken in shear fright. He stroked my arm trying to be reassuring but for every stroke twenty more bullets flew past just making me shake all the more.

"We have to get out before they get another RPG!" Zell shouted.

"Fuck we'll get picked if we leave!" The blonde on me shouted.

"I don't wanna die," I whimpered not caring how baby like I was being. I was scared out of my mind. Tears began streaming down my face. I gripped the gray trench coat tightly crying into it. "Please don't let me die."

"Don't worry," the blonde held me tighter still lying on top of me. "Nothing will happen to you, I promise."

I cried more hearing him say that. Obviously he was in no position to do anything. Like when a mother tells a child nothing is wrong when a thief could be in the house. Or when she says everything will be okay after a _car accident_. Only back then you were innocent to believe that whatever your mother told you, would be true. To go back to that age would be a blessing now. I wished that when the blonde told me nothing would happen to me I would just stop worrying and believe him. The fact of the matter is…I wasn't gullible enough to believe that anymore.

It was only a matter until they shot another RPG at us. Then we would all be dead. It was dumb of me to come here. I should've just ignored the _boy. _I would be home, nice and safe. Not in any danger. But now I'm lying in a tipped car with someone lying on me to protect me from _bullets_. I never thought I would have to worry about bullets. I felt more tears stream down my face at the thought of dieing by being shot. I would never grow old and have kids. One of my only true goals in life. An extremely simple goal but also a modest and enjoyable one. Didn't matter now, all of it would end here.

Then suddenly the bullets stopped.

Bang Bang

Two single shots rang out and then just more silence.

"It's safe!"

I felt the blonde get off me. I watched through teary eyes as he reached up and pulled himself through the side of the car that was now the top. Then soon all the others followed except the other blonde, who I found out was Zell, and I just realized had a tattoo on his face. It might've scared me but not after what I just went through.

"It's okay," he spoke softly and gently. "You're safe now. Come on." He helped me get up and lift me out of the car.

I jumped down and when I landed on the ground my legs gave out. I just sat there looking around in a daze. I saw the limo and one man was lying on the ground next to it. I realized it was Walter. A pool of blood surrounded him and I could honestly say…I didn't care. I could make through the front windshield one of the friends. His head resting on the dashboard. The third one I couldn't see but I figured he was dead in the back.

I noticed that the four people from the car I was in stood in a line next to me. Even though when all asked in the car they said they were fine. Each one had cuts and was holding their head or they were heavily favoring one leg. I glanced back down the road to see a small crater. Obviously where the RPG (yes a fucking RPG) hit.

My head rolled back to the right and I saw the boy from before. Tall, with brunette hair, a scar running between his eyes, his eyes were pretty blue but held a sharp contrast of steal in the center. His experience was shown through his eyes, even though his body looked so young.

Next thing I realized was how angry he was.

"The _fuck_ did you guys do!"

"Boss-" Selphie started.

"No! No!" he shouted again throwing his arm to silence them. "The _fuck_ is wrong with you! You _charged_ them! You honest to God, just fucking drove head on at them! The fuck!" He screamed so loud I even flinched.

"How were we to know they would have an RPG," the blonde said matter-of-factly.

"Shut the fuck up Seifer!"

"Boss-"

"No!" He cut them off once again. "You guys are fucking idiots." He roughly ran a hand through his hair. "Do you guys think! Seriously, do you!"

"What else where we to do?" Seifer asked. "Let them go?"

The leader marched up to Seifer. In a flash his hand was wrapped around Seifer's neck.

"You fucking _charged_ them! Why not send Irvine around the side to snipe them while you create a distraction!" He glared at Seifer a bit more before shouting another curse and letting go.

"Fucking think people!"

Then his eyes laid on me. Poor little me, sitting on the ground, with a tear stained face. Playing with my fingers as he scowled the other four. My head was titling back and forth because I found it hard to keep it straight and center. He briskly walked over to me and knelt down. He softly pushed a strand of my hair behind my ear. He then began picking what I figured was shards of glass out of my hair.

"Rinoa…I am so sorry. This wasn't supposed to happen. I can't apologize enough. But understand if they didn't put you in the car. Then you might've been killed."

"Why?" I spoke softly. I was surprised I spoke at all.

"Because they were not happy with what you found." He answered.

"About that," Seifer stepped forward again. "She only has a page. That's why it took so long."

Squall glanced back at me before rising to his feet. He ran a hand down his face and paced a bit.

"Okay game plan, everyone listen up. First things first, we have to get out of here. This will obviously attract attention. Rinoa we have to get you out of here. You cannot be related to this. Can you think of a cover?"

"…I'm supposed to be having lunch with…my friend."

"Okay good," he beckoned someone over with his hand. A new girl, with long blonde hair. "Quistis and I will take you wherever you need to go. Seifer, Irvine, Zell and Selphie…fine you own damn way home."

He held out his hand and I took it. Even with his help I barely stood up. He decided I was in no condition to walk and he scooped me up bridal style. We began following the blonde girl back to a new car behind the limo.

"What's you name?" I asked quietly.

"We'll drop you at your apartment. Clean up and go to lunch then."

I nodded my head, still in shock a bit. "What's you name." I repeated the question.

"…Squall Leonhart."

He would change life more than I would have ever thought possible.

* * *

**Well there is that chapter. Get this, longest one yet. Frist chapter i have ever written over 10,000 words. I have to say i don't think this will happen that much. I just wanted to get all this in one chapter. I have this fic actually planned out (yes those that know me are in shock right now) so i am trying to keep to my schedule. **

**Please leave a review and let me know if you liked this chapter. I wanna know if the whole action scene at the end was easy to follow. Or did I make it confusing. These are the things you need to tell me so I can make future chapters better.**


	5. Shopping

**A/N:Okay as usual thanks for the reviews. Well this chapter took me sometime. It just wasn't working and i had to rewrite it basically. I'm still not satisfied with it but i figured this was the best it would get. Oh and the dates aren't that important. I might just use them a few times to show days passing or something. Anyways enjoy.

* * *

  
**

**Rinoa's POV**

The car was a simple four-seater, hell if I know what it actually was called or what type it was. Squall set me down in the back seat before getting into the passenger seat himself. The blonde girl who had a strange hint of red mixed in, got behind the wheel. She started up the car and began driving. Not a word was said in the car. I was still too much in a daze, Squall was still pissed, and Quistis seemed smart enough to not break the quiet. Yet many questions were still in my head and after driving for a while my senses managed to come back.

"W-why did…they do th-that?" Okay maybe I wasn't completely myself yet.

Squall flipped down the visor in the front and looked at me through the mirror. "They're bad people. That's all you need to know."

I shook my head having my hair fall in front of my face. I didn't fix it, my regular mind was just not focusing on the simple things yet. I was trying to reform the question and I guess Squall could tell what I was gonna say since he answered it before I could ask it. Good thing too, because I'm not sure if I would've ever been able to get it out.

"The page you found proves that Caraway had deep connections." Squall replied still looking at me through the mirror. "We didn't know they would go this far. We're sorry you had to go through this."

"How did you save us?" I managed to ask without a stumble.

Squall flipped the visor back up, apparently he was done looking at me. I didn't blame him, I must've looked terrible. "I was watching the whole time. I saw it going wrong and made my way over when I could. I snuck in the back during all the shooting. The one man had his head out of the sunroof so it was an easy couple shots in the stomach. The two in the front somehow heard the shot or saw out of their peripheral vision that he wasn't sticking out of the sunroof anymore. They stopped shooting and just watched the sunroof. Then I slipped out the door again and up the side. With two shots I took them both out."

He explained it so nonchalantly it was surprising. Like a simple math problem with an equation too complicated for me to understand. How could he kill and talk about it so easily? It must bother him to some extent right? He wouldn't be a worker of God if he enjoyed killing. That just wouldn't make any sense.

"Did you have to make them walk home?" the driver, Quistis, asked looking at Squall who sighed in reply.

"They deserve it. You know they were being irresponsible."

"An RPG Squall? That is not something you expect."

Squall shook his head. "It doesn't matter. They were simply trying to get Irvine some more glory. If they wanna risk their lives, they can. But not when an innocent is with them."

"Irvine." I spoke quietly. "He's the sniper?"

"Yes." Quistis replied.

"So…he killed my father?" I voiced it as a question but I already knew I was right.

"Yes he did," Squall replied truthfully.

"I see."

"Rinoa don't judge him," Squall said taking me by surprise. "He feels guilty about it, and he is not even to blame. I gave the order therefore it is on my conscience. If you wish to hate someone, you can hate me."

That ended that conversation and silence filled the car once again. I didn't even think too much on what he just said. Honestly I didn't care too much which one killed my father. I just was almost killed myself by his underlings. My dad could rot in fucking hell for all I'd care. He never did care for me beyond what he _had_ too. And then he almost causes my death only to be saved by the very people who killed him. From someone looking out on this, they might find this almost ironic in some way. My father's killers are my saviors.

"Hey Rinoa where do you have to get dropped off?"

I put my attention forward. "I think...I should go home first. I'll call my friend."

"We can't drop you at your mansion," Squall said seriously.

I shook my head. "My apartment."

Squall nodded his approval. "Where is it?"

"DU, Apartment C complex."

"Oh I know where that is," Quistis replied casually.

Squall glared at Quistis for some reason before talking to me. "You can't tell your friend anything you know."

I nodded. "Yeah I figured as much." I paused for a moment thinking of the next question to ask. "So what are people going to think?"

I watched as Squall gave Quistis a questionable look before turning to me. "About?"

He wasn't being serious right? "About the dead bodies and the flipped car. There are probably a lot of bullets lying around too."

"I thought you were supposed to be in some daze."

I flushed slightly hearing Squall say that. Did I sound foolish or something? I was simply thinking. "Sorry."

"No don't be." Quistis said glancing in her rearview mirror at me. "It's just people don't usually think about that when they almost die. They usually just think about being safe and secure."

"Am I not safe with you?"

"You are, but usually-"

"It doesn't matter," Squall cut the blonde off before turning to me. "People will know it was us once again and also it had relations to you. This is why you need to be with your friend. An alibi, even if it is off by a little bit of time. Just say you were in your apartment waiting for your friend. This will only back our claim with everyone that Caraway does have shadow connections."

That all made sense. They don't really want to hide what they did. They fought the wicked once again and want people to know. It made Caraway just look even more corrupt. They just don't want me to be tied into it. Which I couldn't argue with. My question now is…

"What next?" I asked.

"Next what?" Squall grunted.

"No, what next?"

"Next What?"

"What's next?"

"What?"

"What is _next_!"

"Next?"

"_Yes!_ What's next?"

"What is next?"

"Fuck's sake!" Quistis yelled. "Would you two shut up?"

Squall chuckled for a moment. For some reason this surprised me. If figured he was just this serious guy. He didn't seem to be the kind to laugh. I was starting to get a little frustrated with him during that. Now I just wonder if he was messing with me the whole time.

"There is no next," Squall replied turning back to being serious quite quickly.

"Well there has to be a next," I said.

"Not with us," he was talking about me and his group.

"Are you just going to dump me off and completely forget about me?" I inquired.

"That's the plan."

He sounded a little too happy.

"I'm just supposed to forget about you guys."

He nodded putting leaning his head against the window. "Having any king of interaction with us will only bring you danger. So for your sake, just get a sudden case of amnesia."

The rest of the car ride was in silence. They reached my apartment complex. I stepped out of the car. I turned around not knowing what to expect but I felt happy when Squall rolled down the window.

"Remember…don't remember?"

The window closed and they were off once again.

"Great advice asshole." I said quietly as I began my march to my apartment. I decided to take the stairs instead of the elevator. I was tired but the last thing I needed was to stand next to someone in close quarters looking like this. It would only raise questions I didn't need. Now I just wished I didn't live on the eighth floor.

My phone began to vibrate and I forgot all about Natasha. I held it up just to hold it away once she started yelling.

"Rinoa where are you? I have been texting you for forever. You didn't answer my calls! How you just gonna text me something so serious looking and not reply. You had me scared girl! Where you at right now?"

"Nat I'm back at my apartment. Can you just come back here?"

"Oh just order me why dontcha! I'm worried sick and that's all you say."

"Nat I'm sorry, please can you just come…and don't tell anyone either."

"Why…whatchu get yourself into."

"It's nothing, but just come."

"Okay I'll be right over." Natasha replied seriously. It was rare for her to be serious, but I know she can be. I just wished she wasn't so loud.

I pocketed my phone and let out a sigh of relief when I reached my floor. I stumbled over to my door and grabbed the hidden key under my doormat. It wasn't really a good hiding place, but I had shit in my apartment so I didn't really care. I actually was robbed once. The person was kind enough to lock the door after and put the key back under the mat. And they say the worlds gone bad.

I stepped into my empty apartment and quickly shed my clothes making my way to the shower. I turned the knob and stepped in not even waiting for the right temperature. It was freezing cold and I didn't change it. I just leaned against the wall and let my body feel the icy water. It somehow soothed me. I just kept my eyes closed leaning against the shower wall. I didn't even think about _them_. I didn't think about anything. Just simply let the water rinse my mind clean. I felt my legs grow tired and I soon found myself sitting in the shower. My head was down and the water poured onto me.

"I'm alive." I just felt like I had to say it. I was beginning to realize how close that really was. I almost died today. But it was over now, I was safe. I just had to clear my mind.

I titled my head back and let the water pound my face. Once again I found it refreshing. After a few more minutes of sitting down I lifted my leg up and kicked the knob in to shut the water off. However I didn't get up. I continued to sit there. My body was actually shivering from the cold water. My teeth would start chattering in a couple seconds and yet I still didn't move. I pulled the curtain back and just draped my arm over the side of the tub.

I heard the door open and footsteps. It was Natasha. We didn't feel the need to knock on each other's doors. She must've hurried if she really got here that quickly. It didn't take her long to find me. She walked in the bathroom and let out a loud gasp. I figured I looked pretty messed up sitting in an empty tub shivering.

"Rinoa where's your head!"

Natasha grabbed a towel off the shelf in the bathroom and quickly wrapped it around me. She gave me a good rub down and I still didn't really react. I guess the events from before really did have a big effect on me. We were saved so fast and I was whisked away before I could really think. Now I have Natasha leading me to my bed still rubbing me down.

"Rinoa what's wrong with you."

I smiled meekly at Natasha for her caring so much. As you might've guess, I am seen as a rich white preppy girl. So for me to have a black girl, from the poor city side, as a friend was strange. She always teased me for my innocence and I could only laugh at the truth behind it. Natasha was truly funny and she always found a way to cheer me up. I wasn't sure how she afforded Deling University, I know she didn't have a scholarship. However she had no parents to look out for her and her job didn't pay close to enough. Maybe she did get some charity money.

"Rinoa what happened?"

"Can you get me some clothes?" my voice came out as a whisper.

Natasha quickly did as asked. As embarrassing as this might have been, Natasha helped me get dressed. I didn't know I was at such a loss. Then again all I had to do was sit in the car on the way home. Just simply walking up the stairs after the ordeal made me tired. I slipped under the covers in my bed still shivering from the shower. I still don't know why I had to have it freezing.

"Rinoa?" Nat gave me a deadly glare.

"Can you keep a secret," I asked genuinely.

"Girl, you know I can."

"I got in the middle of something," I started. I was trying to think of a believable story, which was hard to do with me looking the way I do. "I was with my butler Walter when suddenly people attacked the limo. I managed to get away but Walter and his friends didn't."

Natasha wrapped me in a hug, which was kinda hard since I was lying down with covers up to my neck. "Rinoa I'm so sorry."

"Don't worry about it," I tried to sound strong. "But can you please not tell anyone."

Nat sat back up. "Rinoa you have to."

I shook my head. "No please I know this sounds weird. But please whatever you do don't."

"Why shouldn't I?"

"Nat seriously…also whatever you hear on the news. Don't think about it."

"Rin what really happened?" She asked sternly.

"That is what happened," I turned onto my side not liking the feeling of lying to her. "I'm going to sleep a bit but don't leave. We'll do something after I promise."

"If ya sacred just admit it."

I chuckled and admitted truthfully. "I'm scared."

* * *

**Squall's POV**

**November 2****nd**

"This seems to be the work of the Crusaders once again. Clearly there was a firefight going on. Which leads the police to have mixed thoughts. They say this was too messy for their usual. If they wanted to assassinate the three men, then why wouldn't they do it stealthier?"

"Yeah I wondered that too," I sarcastically called out to the others in the room.

I was sitting on the couch watching the morning news. They were scattered about in the same room but I knew each one was listening to the news. It was the day after their _gallant_ charge.

I put my attention back to the news.

"Other questions are raised when the identities of the three men were traced. One was apparently the late General Caraway's head butler. This is the main reason why the police believe it was the Saints once again. Now why after a year would the Night Protectors move to people like Caraway? Are they corrupt and planning on some sort of coup? Or maybe Caraway was the corrupt one and the butler had something to do with it."

"Damn right!" Zell shouted from the kitchen table behind me.

"The city is continuously torn on who is right and who is wrong in this ongoing conflict. One thing is for sure. These Silent Watchers are still one hundred percent unknown and one hundred percent active. I don't think I have to say, be careful Deling."

"How many names did they call us?" Seifer asked eating some food next to Zell.

"Four."

Seifer laughed. "Man we should really pick a name so they don't have to keep making ones up."

I grunted in agreement. I still wasn't happy with how yesterday went. The anchorman was saying something but I wasn't paying attention…until he mentioned Rinoa Caraway.

"We thought that Rinoa Caraway, daughter of the late General, would've gotten some peace. Now with her butler being killed in her limo, we couldn't help but wonder what her say was on this. Although she was at her apartment at the time of this event, we still were able to get her say on it."

Zell and Seifer crashed onto the couch next to me also interested by what the man just said.

Sure enough Rinoa appeared on the screen with many microphones stuck in her face. She looked completely lost as many cameras flashed. Questions were being shouted out left and right. I could tell by how informal this was, she wasn't told about it. A bunch of reporters just rushed her at some point.

"Miss Caraway what do you think about your butler being killed?"

"Umm…bad?"

"Are you afraid the Saints might target you next?"

Rinoa shook her head. "Not in the least. I haven't done anything wrong."

"Are you saying your father and your butler did something wrong?"

Rinoa shrugged slowly relaxing more and more. "They must've if the Saints dealt with them."

"So you fully stand behind what these vigilantes are doing?"

"One hundred percent and if two people I knew where killed by them. Then I should thank them for making me safer. So thank you Saints and please keep up your work. No matter what people think. You are doing good."

The TV flashed back to the anchorman and I just shut it off. I stood up and stretched.

"Well I like her," Zell said.

"Samezies!" Selphie shouted still in the kitchen.

Seifer stood up behind me. "You know Squall they are gonna target her now. They don't know who we are but they know who she is. They will go after her simply to get some revenge."

I nodded. "I know. She's in deep trouble now."

"Are we gonna put her somewhere safe?" Irvine asked walking into the living room.

"Where's safe?" Zell asked.

I sighed not believing where my thoughts were heading. "There is only one safe place."

* * *

**Rinoa's POV**

**November 5****th **

I stepped out of the apartment complex. It was cold so I wore a blue fleece and on top of that a dark colored vest with fur liner. Some regular jeans on, I loved wearing jeans almost as much as sweatpants. It had been a couple days since the event and my life calmed down considerably. The reporters were definitely a surprise but that was only that one night. Now I just needed to do some good old shopping. I walked to a busy street and stuck my hand in the air waving down a taxi. Only took a few seconds to give him my destination. I hadn't gone shopping in a while and it was just the thing I needed.

When I arrived I paid the driver his money and stepped out. The large sidewalks were crowded and I had to keep my shoulders hunched as I pushed past people. I walked into my first store in my all day marathon I was about to go on. It had all designer clothing. Hey if you're rich, then take advantage. However I didn't see anything I especially liked and stepped back out into the crowded sidewalk.

People were constantly bumping into me. I was use to it but since it was a Saturday even more people were shopping. Luckily not all the streets were going to be this crowded but this one was one of the busiest in the city. The traffic was bumper to bumper as usual and there was always beeping. I would be amazed if I ever walked down a street without beeping or yelling. I let out a grunt as someone shoved into me again. They didn't even apologize. A simple _sorry_ would suffice.

I heard a phone ring but it wasn't mine. That was the other thing. People were always talking on their phones. Some just gabbing while others were practically yelling business deals. However this person wasn't answering theirs and it was getting quiet annoying. The person must've been walking right next to me. The noise just kept following me.

Wait it couldn't be. I reached into my fleece and I found a phone. I stopped in my tracks at the bizarre discovery. My phone was in my purse. I pulled the phone out and the number was restricted. It was a standard prepay phone. I pressed the center button and held it to my ear.

"Hello?"

"Rinoa, it's Squall, don't stop walking."

"What?" There was no way.

"I said walk."

I immediately began walking again.

"What's going on?"

"You're being followed. Don't Look!" Damn him, I was about to. "Just keep walking and act like you're talking on the phone. That doesn't mean you have to say some fake loud name so others hear you. Just keep talking."

"How do you know I'm being followed?"

"I can see the people following you." He said it like it was obvious or something_._

"Wait you're watching me right now?" I was about to turn around again but I stopped remembering what he said.

"Not personally no…or not yet."

"What?"

"Look just follow my instructions." He lashed out.

"Sorry," I apologized. "What do you want me to do?"

"Keep walking straight. Tell me, do you know the street well, or do you usually look at street signs while shopping?"

"I know my way well around here, I can tell by the stores near the corners."

"Okay well don't forget to look at them sometimes so it looks like you are still finding your own path."

"Okay…then what?"

"We need to single out the people following you. We'll take care of them and then will get you."

"What do you mean and who's following me?"

I heard Squall sigh loudly through the phone. "Can't you just trust me?"

"I don't know you." I answered smartly.

"I saved your life the other day, I think you can trust me."

"I just want to know who's following me?" How would you like it to be walking on a crowed street and people following you and you have no idea who it was?

"Fine, at this corner look around like you are trying to find your bearings."

I reached the corner and I first looked across the street. Then left and right quickly fake frowning. I slowly kept turning to the right acting like I was looking for a sign or something and listened as Squall talked.

"That guy on the other side of the street sipping from his coffee with the gay ass sunglasses."

Sure enough there was a guy walking up the other sidewalk, he was on the edge so I could make him out. He never glanced over at me, but I figured if he was good he wouldn't when I was spinning around. I would just have to trust Squall.

"Directly behind you there is a man in a nice shirt and tie talking on his cell phone. A couple people behind him there is another man just in casual clothes. Keep turning." I did and was facing front wards again still glancing at signs faking ignorance. "That maroon minivan with tinted windows parked in front of the Centrian restaurant. Then if you look down to your left on the same block, there is a man sitting on a bench listening to music. Also directly in front of you there is a man and woman holding hands laughing and talking."

"Wait…that means I'm surrounded."

"Yes it does."

"The fuck Squall!" I shouted.

"God would you relax. Take the left, heading towards the guy with the iPod."

"Squall…?" I let his name hold on my tongue for a bit insisting my discomfort with the idea.

"Wow can you trust me? Seriously listen to what I say and you'll be fine."

"What if my own gut tells me otherwise?"

"Your gut doesn't have a brain and neither do you if you listen to it." He let out another sigh. "I can't stress this enough. Rinoa if you don't follow everything I say…you will _die_."

"What the fuck did you get me into!" I whispered as loudly as I could.

"Me?" There was a pause. "Okay fine it's more of less my fault. But I'm getting you out of it. Just listen."

Now I was beginning to feel the panic coming. I was once again in a life or death situation, this time I was alone. Squall on the phone does not count as him being with me. Unless he's next to me fighting for me, he's not helping.

"Rinoa don't worry," his voice was soft and reassuring. "I wont let anything happen to you."

I nodded.

"Don't nod Rinoa…you're on the phone remember?" Squall said tiredly.

"So you can see me?"

"Me personally no. Selphie yes."

I perked up a little. Maybe I wasn't completely by myself. "Where is she?"

"Never mind that, you are coming up on the music guy." I lost track of where I was during our conversation. I was just a couple yards from him now. He didn't even pay attention to me at all as I walked past. "Okay now just go to the end of the block and onto the next one. You know that one clothing store? The one that's front is basically glass."

"Yeah."

"Go in there…by the way iPod man is following you. Don't react but he's getting closer slowly. Also the minivan has appeared coming up the street. Once again don't react. The other people I'm sure are coming from behind you now and one might cut you off."

I felt my heartbeat quicken as I reached the store he was talking about. The entrance was tall and completely glass, with doors at the bottom and windows leading up to the ceiling. I managed a glance behind me and I saw the music man coming into the store right after me. I wanted to run with him being so close.

"Rinoa go to the left, do you see the changing rooms?"

"Yeah." They were still towards the front of the shop. Just off set to the left all in one big row. Not very secretive like how some stores hide them in the back.

"Lead him back there and turn around and face him. Say you know he's following you. It will slow him down to a walk. When he dies, push him into the empty changing room and shut the door."

"Okay." I reached the changing room and turned around.

Wait what the fuck, _when he dies_. What!

The man was almost upon me. "I know you're following me." I surprised myself at how strong my voice was.

"Oh you do," the man smiled maliciously.

"Yeah and I want to know why."

I kept backing up slowly and he kept coming forward slowly, just like Squall said. I wasn't too sure what was going to happen but it better happen soon, or this guy will have me. He passed by a couple empty changing-rooms so I wasn't sure what was going to happen. I still had the phone up next to me ear, not sure why. Just made me feel better.

"You are threatening a lot of people Miss Caraway with your discovery. I was sent to take care of you. If you come quietly I'll make it painless."

"You're sick," I accused getting more scared every step he took.

Then in a second I saw as his blood splatter on the white changing-room door. His face didn't even have time to show shock. It still looked completely normal except his eyes weren't focused anymore and the blood that leaked down from his head. I must've looked like a complete idiot with my mouth just hanging open and my eyes widened beyond belief. The phone still next to me ear and my mind just telling me over and over to run. To get the hell away from here…from these people.

His limp body was about to fall.

"Push him in before he falls over!" Squall ordered from the phone.

My arm stretched out without me really thinking. I barely touched him but it was enough for him to fall into the changing-room. I shut the door and was left with a blood splatter on the front of it. Like someone just took some red paint and threw it onto a canvas. Although this brought a sickening feeling with it. Someone's blood was the painting…someone's life.

"Grab some clothes and drape it on the door to cover the blood."

I grab the nearest clothes. I wasn't even sure what they were, my mind wasn't really working at the time. I quickly draped them over the door so it covered the streak of blood. I just stepped back still in shock. Past that door was a dead man.

As I kept stepping back it sank in more and more. People were after me. It wasn't a joke, they weren't just going to stop in public. They were going to do anything to get me. They wanted my blood. People wanted _my_ blood. I didn't even do anything and they were after me. What the fuck am I supposed to do now? I was thinking about turning tail and running. Just as far as I could and never stop.

"_Rinoa!_"

"Oh God, oh God, oh God…"

I just kept repeating it quietly to myself. I couldn't believe I was in this mess. I backed into a rack of clothes and completely freaked out. I screamed and began flailing my arms around, knowing the rack over. I realized it was just clothes and stopped, but my heart didn't. It wouldn't stop and I wasn't sure if it would ever stop.

"Rinoa listen to me!"

"Oh God…Squ-Oh God." I was about to have a panic attack…scratch that. I _was _having a panic attack. I couldn't even finish a whole thought. I backed up into a wall and slid to the ground. The whole time my chest rose and fell heavily. I was going to hyperventilate soon but that didn't stop me from repeating _oh God._

"Rinoa listen to me!" Squall's voice was filled with urgency. "I need you to calm down. Don't worry everything will be fine."

"Squall they're coming," I felt tears starting to come on in my desperation for safety. "They're coming for me, my blood. They want to kill me."

"Rinoa I won't let that happen!" His voice, so strong, so promising. "You need to leave the store through the front entrance now!"

"That's where they're coming from!" I shouted back.

I saw a worker in the store coming toward me. She looked pissed, I was obviously disturbing the store and the customers. They would kick me out and I would be in trouble once again. I didn't know what to do. I had to run, but where. Nowhere was safe now. The people must know where I live, I can't go back there. I don't know what to do.

"God damn it Heartily!" Squall shout was loud and…desperate. It silenced my whimpering. "I promise nothing will happen to you, but you have to leave now."

"I don't know if I can."

"Yes you can, you are a strong girl."

I slowly rose, putting a hand on the wall for support.

"Rinoa I'll take care of you, I promise nothing will happen. Just listen to me and do as I say."

"O-Okay…can you keep talking to me." I couldn't help it if I found his voice reassuring.

"Yeah no problem, the couple holding hands are coming down the sidewalk towards the store now. Just simply walk out and head left. You'll be fine, we're watching you the whole way."

I walked back through the entrance and forced myself to not look right. I just turned left and headed down it again. I wasn't about to cry anymore, but I wasn't anymore relaxed. My heart rate was still jacked. The only difference before and after the changing-room event was now everything felt real. Before it was going to fast, I didn't really have time to think. But when someone just dies in front of you, thinks instantly look different.

"Slow down a bit."

"But-"

"Rinoa trust me."

I did as he said and slowed my pace a bit. I could feel them behind me, their eyes beaming into my back. I just concentrated on Squall's voice.

"Okay now the corner store at the end of this block. I want you to turn the corner there really close. See the spinning rack with postcards. I want you to actually be so close to that your arm touches it."

I wasn't sure why it mattered but I would do as told. The street was still crowed but not nearly as much as the earlier one. I wasn't being bumped into anymore and I could actually see to the end of the street. This also meant my followers could always see him.

"Squall how do you know that couple is bad?" It was strange. When you think stalkers, you think big brute guys.

"No real answer to that besides they stick out. It's hard to explain but we know don't worry."

I didn't tell him I would rather him be wrong. I was coming close to the corner and was preparing for another shooting. I knew if I turned left it would be going down a side street, almost empty most of the time. I wasn't sure why they wanted me going down a backwards street. I would rather stay on the main one.

I came to the corner and I passed the rotating rack my arm just touching it. As soon as I stepped past I saw someone in a black jacket with the hood up. He was just to my left so close that I almost collided with him. I managed to see through the shadow of the hood and realized it was the boy from earlier with he tattoo on his face…Zell. Another couples seconds and the couple turned the corner. I glanced over my shoulder just in time to see Zell reach out and grab the man's arm. He yanked him and kneed him in the chest. Still holding onto his arm he used his other elbowed to smack him in the neck three times. Then he kicked his legs out and shoved him onto his back. The man to rolled around on the ground gasping for air.

"Don't watch keep going." Squall's voice urged me but I couldn't listen.

I watched as the woman pulled a gun and pointed it at Zell. He grabbed her arm, spun so her arm was over his shoulder, and he flipped her over his back. She landed on the ground with a grunt and Zell immediately stepped on her shoulder that was connected to the arm holding her arm. He twisted her arm until the gun fell out, then with another yank there was a sickening pop. The woman would've screamed when her shoulder was yanked out of its socket but the blonde slammed his foot into her chest knocking her out. The guy was now rising and threw a punch. Zell caught it with ease and used his other hand to punch the stalkers elbow inward. The man could only get a yelp out before Zell grabbed his neck and snapped it. The man fell down limp.

Zell looked at me and nodded before disappearing into a store on the other side of the street.

"Rinoa keep moving."

I forced myself to turn around and begin walking again.

"What…what was that?"

"That's Zell, he's good at close combat. He's following you on a different route. More or less he is gonna pick off the people following you."

That actually did make me feel slightly better and yet it didn't. The sickening _crack_ from the neck was replaying in my mind. That man and woman had no chance against Zell. He took out both of them in seconds. His hands moved like lightening I almost didn't see him hit the guy in the neck three times. It was just a blur. I don't know much about fighting but even I could tell Zell was a master at martial arts.

"That was the sniper too right?"

"From before…yeah it was. He isn't following you though. He's just on the roof looking over that one store."

"You planned me going in their from the beginning."

"More or less, yes."

I came back out onto a main street. I just kept walking looking straightforward. Squall hadn't failed me yet, I figured I should really trust him. There were still people around, but there was plenty of space to walk. I just counted my steps to keep my head busy. I was getting close to the corner.

"Okay Rinoa now just keep going straight, you will-" There was a sudden pause and I knew Squall was being told something. "Oh shit, Rinoa cross the street."

"What?"

"Cross the street, just go now, there is a guy at the corner ahead."

Luckily there weren't really any cars. I stepped into the street. Apparently that one guy slipped past them until just now. I hope this doesn't throw off their entire plan because that's isn't good for me.

Suddenly I heard tires screech and I couldn't stop my head snapping to the right. I saw the maroon minivan charging at me. It was gonna run me over. Did they plan for me to cross because of the guy at the corner? Was he just a diversion? Didn't matter now, I just ran. There was no chance I would dodge it though, it would go on the sidewalk if it had to.

Then I felt a guest of wind and a black flash go past me. I watched as another car hit its brakes and did a 180, so it faced me with its rear to the minivan. The maroon minivan crashed into the back of the black car. I watched as the head of the brunette girl in the black car hit back against the headrest. Then she looked up and I saw it was the driver from before…Selphie. She smiled at me and by the looks of it, released her emergency break. She then just stepped on the gas and zoomed out of there. The driver in the minivan was knocked out, completely unconscious.

Oh my God, it just hit me. Selphie hit the minivan with the back of her car so it wouldn't hurt her. While the driver of the minivan took a head on collision. The difference between a head on collision and a rear one are huge. The evidence was sitting right in front of me and it only made me think how amazing these guys were.

"Get out of there, don't attract attention."

I immediately began to move again.

"How many left?" I asked. I just wanted this to be over.

"Well thanks to Selphie we don't have to worry about them stuffing you in the car."

"Uh…was that their plan?"

"More than likely, but they must've realized something was wrong and just decided to kill you."

"Uh…" It was about all my mind would be able to respond to that.

I heard Squall chuckled, I didn't know how he could be so relaxed. "Anyways, there is still the guy in the shirt and tie. The one that was previously hiding behind the corner, who is now following you…yeah uh pick up the pace he's really moving."

"Isn't that obvious of him."

"It's obvious that you have help. They don't have to hide anymore, they just need to get you."

"So what now then."

I was briskly walking down a sidewalk again.

"Um well since Selphie had to retire, we don't have the best eyes on you anymore. We still got eyes, just not perfectly."

I was about to freak out but he cut in before I could.

"Don't worry, is there a café in front of you with tables outside."

I looked up ahead and there was. It had a little black gate around the outside part, which was considerably small.

"Yeah."

"Okay don't worry Seifer is in the alley, just walk past it and whatever you do don't look in the alley."

I did as told. I walked right past the alley and continued on my way. I could see a dumpster open out of the corner of my eye. I didn't hear a struggle at all but I heard the lid slam closed which meant the guy was dead and thrown in there.

"Who was that?"

"Sunglasses guy," Squall answered quickly. "Now I just need you to take a left."

I followed my directions and when I did I glanced further left, looking back towards the café. I saw two people across the street from the café. One of the casual guy from earlier and the other was the shirt and tie guy. I was crossing right onto the sidewalk they would be on. I wasn't sure if Squall knew this.

"Squall I'm about to run into two people."

"I know."

"I thought I was avoiding them?"

He laughed, an actual laugh at a time like this. "Hell no Rinoa. You are basically our bait."

"Fuck you." I wasn't actually too mad. They were saving me so I couldn't complain. Even if being used a little.

I stepped onto the other sidewalk and instantly began walking away from the followers.

"I'm kidding…kinda." Squall apparently wasn't sure if I was really mad or not.

"Seriously they are only like ten yards behind me." Panic once again finding its way into my voice.

"I know just turn into this alley coming up."

"Who's in that one?"

"No one at the moment."

He was joking right? He wouldn't just lead me into an alley being followed with no one in there. Maybe Zell was gonna be their soon or something.

"So Zell right?" I asked figuring he was joking.

"Uh no, he found another person…oh and you just passed the alleyway."

"I know! Hell no I'm not going in there if no one is there."

All humor dropped from his voice. "Rinoa if you don't go in that alley you will die. I told you to trust me."

I let out a groan but my heart sped up. I quickly doubled back making eye contact with my two followers for the briefest of seconds. I stepped into the alleyway and it was a dirty one. Trash and papers thrown all over. I heard footsteps behind me and I saw my two followers. Out of nowhere they broke into a sprint. I began pumping my legs as fast as I could. I glanced over my shoulder to see them both draw there guns. I looked forward just in time to see Squall step out from the corner. I stopped just in front of him, I mean literally. An inch away.

He drew two handguns and fully extended his arms, which passed my head. It was like he was hugging me. Just not bending his arms and with guns in his hand…borderline same thing. The people behind me both tried to shoot before he did. They were too slow, Squall rifled off a couple shots. The guns were silenced so my ears didn't hurt being so close to the guns. He shot one in the chest twice and the other in the hand and the leg. Which is pretty amazing shooting at the same time.

During all this I wasn't thinking _I was saved_, or _what a close call_. I was staring at his lips. They looked so tasty, I couldn't possibly think of anything else. I kept telling myself to look at something else. If I stared too long I probably wouldn't be able to stop myself from _sampling_ them.

Move to his eyes, move to his eyes, move to his…oh shit back to his lips. Oh God why do his eyes have to be so blue.

I didn't have to worry about it for too long. He stepped past me and advanced on the guy he shot in the hand and foot. The man was now lying on the ground, pain stretched across his face. He tried to pick his gun back up but Squall just unloaded another bullet into his shoulder. The man crashed back to the ground with a scream. It was amazing no one heard this man. He was cursing and yelling.

Squall put his guns back into their holders, which were hidden inside his jacket. He picked the guy up by his collar and threw him against the wall. The whole time the man was crying out in pain.

"We aren't going to expose Caraway," Squall explained his voice terrifying. "There is no need to chase after this girl anymore."

The man laughed, I don't know how he managed it with three gun shot wounds. "You think people under Caraway will stop trying to kill her because of that. You guys can't follow her everywhere. She can't hide either. We are everywhere."

"You aren't at my house," Squall smirked. "She's staying with us and if any more of your _gang_ or whatever the fuck you faggots are, come after her. My friends and I will kill each and everyone of you."

"Only the Saints can do that." The man laughed. He must've had the epiphany right after he said that. He came to the conclusion that Squall was one of the Saints. He began squirming and doing everything he possible could to get away from him. "Oh shit man I'm sorry. Seriously I'm sorry. I didn't know you were tight with Caraway."

Squall rolled his eyes and dropped him to the ground. "I killed him if that's being tight."

"Okay man seriously, I'll deliver the message. We'll back off you completely. Don't worry."

I shrieked when a bullet came out of nowhere ending the man's life. Squall sighed and stepped back. I looked down the alley and saw Seifer walking towards us putting his gun away.

"He was our messenger," Squall said dryly.

"Put it on paper," Seifer waved the matter off with a hand.

Squall grabbed a pen and a small piece of paper out of his jacket. He scribbled something down and stuck it in the dead man's hand. He stepped back just in time for Seifer to whisper something into his ear. They both looked at me.

Squall sighed. "Rinoa you know too much."

My mind instantly went to the worst. "Oh hell no. Fuck this shit." I stepped back slowly. "You guys are gonna fucking kill me. Just like that. After saving me you're gonna splatter my brains all over the sidewalk. Watch my blood make pools for the crows to drink. The fuck you guys work for God. You can't kill an innocent."

Squall and Seifer looked completely shocked. Then Seifer began laughing, a little at first. Then he erupted. He leaned back and let his laugh roar to the heavens.

"Oh my God! What an idiot!" He put a hand on Squall's shoulder leaning heavily on it. "_Blood for the crows to drink._" Seifer mocked my voice. "I can't believe her."

Squall smiled softly. "Rinoa we aren't going to kill you."

"Oh?" I couldn't help flush a little embarrassed. Seifer's comments weren't helping.

"You know too much to live by yourself. It's dangerous too."

"You aren't-"

"Rinoa let's not talk in an alleyway with two dead bodies." Squall suggested wisely. "Come with us to our apartment. We have much to discuss."

I wasn't exactly sure what they were planning but I knew now I could trust them. They saved my life twice now. My life was rapidly changing and I had to get control of it once again. This was also a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Go to the Saint's apartment. I wonder how many people get to do this. Not many is my guess.

Squall smiled at me waiting for my answer. I stepped forward giving my answer silently. He waited for me to reach him before turning and walking by my side. I glanced up at him sneakily. I definitely wanted to get closer to those eyes.

* * *

**Okay well like i said i'm not too sure about this chapter. I hope do hope to get a few more reviews this time. How bout for a christmas gift? As usual be as cruel as you want in a review. All i want is honesty.**


	6. Torture

**A/N: Thank you all who reviewed! It really means so much to me to hear from you guys. If you guys are wondering why my chapters are as long as they are. It's because if I shortened them, my fic would go over a hundred chapters easy and I don't like that. Also I like to try and keep all the same of one topic, in one chapter. That and I simply enjoy longer chapters more then shorter ones, so sorry if being too long bothers you. My chapters aren't really going to get much shorter.

* * *

  
**

**Rinoa's POV**

I was sitting in the back of a car. Zell was next to me, they picked him up in an alley. Squall was driving with Seifer in the passenger seat. Currently there was no talking. I could tell something was on their mind and I couldn't help but know it had to do with me. I felt uncomfortable sitting in this car. Knowing that I was the odd person out. I was hoping at least one of them would make conversation.

"Rinoa…we have a proposition for you." Squall told me breaking the awkward silence.

"Oh?"

"I won't dance around it," Squall said. "We want you to join us."

"…uh." I was speechless alright, could ya blame me.

Seifer chuckled hearing my _clever_ response. "You have a certain attraction to danger we've discovered. We know you can be trusted, and we know you can follow directions."

"Wait," I leaned forward poking my head between the two front seats. "That was all a test."

Squall shrugged. "More or less. It wasn't set up as a test, but we used it as one to evaluate you under pressure."

"Oh." I said back and hung my head. "I freaked though…wasn't that bad."

"It was funny."

"Seifer." Squall growled his warning. Seifer just shrugged.

"Well wasn't it?" I pushed.

"It wasn't good…but it wasn't bad." Squall explained. "It was expected honestly, I mean you aren't supposed to be use to death. But you recovered in time and continued on without freaking again."

"So…I passed?" I asked hopefully.

Once again Squall shrugged. "You aren't completely in yet."

"Wait something didn't seem right about this." I told him honestly. "Zell over there is a kung-fu-"

"Martial arts," Zell corrected.

"Right…eh martial arts master. Seifer and you seem to be good shots. You have an ace sniper. Selphie is umm…the driver?" I looked over at Zell.

"Explosives," he said wisely.

Okay…didn't expect that. "Then you have that secretary-"

I was cut off by Seifer roaring in laughter again. "Holy shit, could you imagine if Quistis heard what she was just called."

I flushed again apparently a said something stupid, especially since Squall was also laughing along. I glanced over at Zell to see him trying to hide a laugh. I hid my head in my hands. I just had to speak.

"Rinoa its aright don't worry." Squall must've seen me in the mirror looking embarrassed.

"What's she good at then?" I asked

"Computer genius." Zell answered.

"Keeps the base." Squall answered.

"Great hacker." Zell answered again.

"Directs us in our missions sometimes." Squall answered again.

"Great in the sack."

I don't need to tell you who that was.

"So she's your…technical support?" I searched for the right words.

"Yeah that sounds right," Squall agreed.

"Anyways," I went back to why I originally brought this up. "Everyone on your team has skills, I don't. I can't do anything."

"Can ya cook?" Seifer asked hopefully.

"No really."

"Fuck her then, dump her and lets go."

Squall looked over at Seifer boredly. "This is more then your usual…you trying to impress her or something."

Seifer put his hands behind his head. "No really, she just seems to give me a lot of opportunities."

"He's got a point," Zell said to me.

"Anyways," I called out bringing them back. It seemed they go off on tangents easily. "Why do you want me to join you? How did I pass your screening or whatever?"

"We don't really have a screening," Squall explained. "It was just me and Seifer. We picked up Zell because he basically lost everything and we knew he could be helpful. Quistis just begged us and we let her. No really process there. The only person we actually searched for was Irvine and with him came Selphie, who just happened to be fairly useful in her own."

"Yeah so don't worry Rinoa," Zell told me. "You don't have to be an amazing person to join us."

"You say that, but everyone you have is extremely skilled. I'm supposed to believe you just want me for no reason. There's gotta be something."

"Well you're kinda right," Squall glanced over his shoulder at me. "See…we needed another woman."

"A woman?" I quirk an eyebrow.

"What do all crooks have in common?" Seifer asked wisely.

"Uh…no idea."

"Think about it," he pressed. "Every criminal, after doing whatever heist, murder, theft, anything. Each one of them likes sex. Hell there is a whole crime department devoted to rape because sick bastards like it so much."

"You want me to…have sex with criminals."

Okay…I wanna get out of the car _now_!

"No not exactly," Squall said sending a glare at Seifer for being so blunt. "Half the time we have to go out of our way to reach a target, simply because we can't get to them any other way. But many criminals, we have discovered, almost always call some lay. Or when in a club, they only let woman inside. So if we train you, you can be our inside person."

"So…you want me to have sex with criminals," I repeated.

"No," Squall chuckled. "You really aren't getting this. Selphie and Quistis almost never get their hands dirty. Selphie if she's gotta. So we need a person of the female gender do get her hands dirty with is. Rinoa currently you have no skills. We are going to train you. You will be as good as me when we're done with you. You will do all the stuff we do, but in addition. You will be the key to sneaking into most places by simply swinging your hips."

Well that sounds a little better. They don't want me to just sleep with the people. It will be a cover to get them inside. That I can deal with as long as one thing doesn't happen.

"I'm not gonna actually have to sleep with anyone right?" I asked hopefully.

Squall titled his head weighing the options in his mind. "…No you wont. Not if everything goes according to plan. But I can't make complete promises. One time things might not go right and it might just better be safe to go along with your role."

"You're kidding."

"Rinoa don't worry," Zell said putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "That will never happen. Squall just can't guarantee, so he's leaving the possibility open. But after your training, you will be able to handle anyone. So you can just take care of the guy before anything really happens."

"Alright"

"So what ya say? You wanna join us?"

I put my head down thinking. My mind was being flooded with all sorts of thoughts. I couldn't imagine being trained to kill. I just never thought it would ever be…me. I had no idea what it would be like. I was known as a nice, kind girl. Always willing to help out, never wanting to fight anyone. Sure I screamed a bit and had my fair share of arguments with my dad. But I never struck a person, hell I've only slapped a couple people in my life. How would I ever be able to do this?

Then again how could I ever turn them down? The Saints were legends. For the past year I've looked up to them and dreamed of meeting them. Like a fairy tale princess waiting to be rescued. They were taking me from my dull, boring, and dead-end life. I would finally get to do something I thought was right. Literally fight for what I believed in. The streets weren't cleaning themselves. Squall and his friends were making a difference. Everyone knew it whether they admitted it or not. This was my chance to join…my chance to make a difference.

I raised my head, full of new resolve. "Yes…I'll do anything to join you."

Seifer looked over at Squall. "Good choice of words, tell her what she's gotta do now."

Squall sighed and I could tell immediately whatever I had to do was not good.

"Rinoa," just by saying my name he was able to grab my full attention. "We have one more test. It will let us know what your physical limits, exhaustion level, mental stability, resolve, control, patience, and trustworthiness. Basically Rinoa-"

"We're gonna torture you and see how you handle it." Seifer interjected bluntly.

"What!" I hastily looked around to see if it was just another one of Seifer's wisecracks. But none of them laughed or would look at me. Which meant what he said was true.

"Why?" I would've been screaming if I could've. It would've at least sounded stronger. But it came out as a sad, desperate, scared whisper.

Squall sighed not liking this at all, even I could tell. "We put Irvine through it also. It's in case someone captures you on the job. We have to know if you will spill our secret or not."

"But…but isn't it different kinda." I tried to explain hoping to avoid this. "I mean like if I was really captured, I would be scared or something right? I mean I would be afraid of dieing. You guys aren't gonna kill me, so…so its like not real right? It isn't the same thing. Why do it, ya know?"

I was rambling it was obvious. It didn't help when I gripped the two front seats sticking my head between again trying to look someone in the face. My dream just went down the shitter. I would never be able to stand torture. That's just ridiculous.

"Rinoa," It was Seifer but he was sounding serious and that was enough to make me sit back. "None of us want to do this. But you will be going on the dangerous missions. You will be as likely to get caught as Zell, Squall and me. We won't force you to do this. But if you do, and you pass. We will teach you things you've never known. You will be in the best shape of your life. You will have confidence, skills, you will fear nothing, and best yet." Seifer turned around and looked into my eyes to really lay the message across. "You will gain the tightest groups of friends that will risk their life for you in a second."

I just looked into his eyes. My mind didn't think anymore. I knew if I waited too long my mind would begin to start turning again. The rational side of it would tell me to just get out of the car and put them behind me. But the ideal side, the pure thoughts of making it through the torture and being apart of their group. It was too much, it overcame all common sense. And before my mind could really think about it. I agreed.

"I said do whatever." My voice low and serious.

There was silence once again and that told me they were all shocked I agreed so quickly, if at all. Although they hid it well.

Squall glanced in the mirror at me. "We are going to stop at your apartment. We will help you bring some of your things. You will tell whatever friends you have that you are going on vacation. You don't know how long, you don't know where. You are just traveling the world to get away from the city."

I nodded solemnly. That means this will take a long time. I wanted to ask who long they would do it but for some reason I couldn't find the courage. I also figured they would've told me if they actually wanted me to know. I guess I just had to wait and see.

And that's just what we did. They pulled in front of my apartment complex and got out with me. We went up to my apartment and I began stuffing things in a suitcase. Squall told me just a few clothes that we could always get more. He said anything that held memory. There wasn't really anything in my apartment; it was fairly blank after all. They carried my stuff to the car as I made the calls. It took a bit of explaining to Natasha that I was leaving. She kept insisting to come with me but I knew she had to stay in classes. I told the main maid at my old mansion. She also pressed me for questions but I just kinda blew her off.

Then next thing I knew I was driving towards the edge of the city to their apartment. I always wondered where the Saints lived. I never expected an Eel Apartment. That was high class. Their where only about ten in the world. It was set up on a hill over looking the city on one side and on the other was a cliff and then the ocean. It stood completely on its own, striking into the sky. The glass windows shiny like silver in the sunlight. We drove around the back down underneath into a garage. I noticed it required a key card to get into.

"We own the entire basement including this garage," Squall explained. "Every car you see here is ours. We also own the whole top floor, which is coincidently all one apartment."

We exited out of the car and walked through a door into a…shooting range?

"We keep our skills up," Seifer exampled nonchalantly knowing what I was gonna ask.

"It's why we need the whole basement," Zell offered for more reason to rationalize an entire shooting range in a basement.

"It's why I like the Eel Apartments," Squall told me as we stepped into the elevator. "They will do whatever you ask if you pay them enough. This elevator we're riding in right now. Just ours, no one else can use it."

I had to admit that they had a pretty sweet set up.

The elevator doors opened up to reveal a simple hallway. It was fairly skinny but it was simply leading to the door to the apartment. Squalls stepped through first and we all followed. We came into their living room. It was large, with white walls and a white carpet. The far wall was just tall windows from floor to ceiling. They gave a beautiful view of Deling. I stepped further in and saw that to the right there was a kitchen. It was connected to the living room but broken up by a counter that extended from the walls. The window-walls stopped right before the counter and the kitchen was a normal kitchen with cabinets and what not.

Selphie was lying on the couch resting her head in Irvine's lap. When they heard the door open she sat up.

"Oh she said yes."

It sounded like a sad response. Like she didn't want me there. I immediately cast my eyes down. Maybe I shouldn't have just assumed they wanted me so bad. How stupid of me to thinking everyone was on bored.

Selphie must've noticed my instant sadness and realized how she sounded. "Oh no Rinoa I didn't mean it like that." I looked her in the eye as she explained. "It's just…if you're here that means you said yes. Which is great! But it means you are going through the with torture and that I feel bad for."

I shrugged trying not to think about it. "It's gotta happen."

"You're right," Squall said. He took the suitcase from my hand and tossed it away. "Rinoa…we're starting now."

"What!" I exclaimed. I wasn't ready. I thought they would give me a least a day, I was hoping for more.

"The more you think about it the more you will panic and change your mind."

Squall walked over to a door directly to my left. He opened it and as I looked in I gasped. It was completely empty, except a toilet in the back corner. There were no windows, only a single light that was in the middle of the ceiling. Seifer walked past me with a chair that had no arms I assumed he took it from the table.

"Right now!" I cried out again hoping to draw some attention.

"He's kinda right Rinoa," Zell said sadly.

Next thing I knew Squall had a hand on my shoulder and was looking me in the eye. "Tell me now Rinoa…do you want to do this."

Maybe it was the adrenalin; maybe it was just wanting to be with the Saints so much. But I said yes without a second thought. I couldn't help but think maybe it was his eyes. Looking into them I felt I could do anything. They gave me reassurance.

I took my Pea coat off and just stood there in my long-sleeve blue shirt and jeans. I took my phone out of my pocket and handed it to Squall. He asked for my shoes off and I complied silently.

"What's going on?"

I looked over and it was the woman from before…Quistis.

"We're starting now," Seifer told her.

She gasped. "That's crazy!" She marched up to me. "Rinoa I know this is being rushed really quickly, but be strong. You can make it through this." She brushed some hair behind my ear and I was instantly reminded of being a little kid with my mother. Quistis smiled reassuringly at me. Yup, she definitely had the motherly smile.

Squall guided me into the room and sat me down in the chair. I found myself breathing faster. Seifer grabbed my hands and tied them to the back of the chair. Squall tied my legs to the legs of the chair.

I think when I was bound is when I started to lose it. My breathing increased even more and I tossed my head back and forth looking between the two men. Seifer instantly left the room, shutting the door behind him. Does this mean Squall is gonna do it all? Is Squall the person who gives me reassurance, the person who saved me twice, the person who seemed to be the leader of the only group that actually understood the world and the way it works? Is he going to torture me?

"Rinoa," his voice was low and solemn. He knelt down so he was just a bit under my eye level. "Be strong…I know you can do this. I really want you do to this. You will be a great help to the team."

I nodded swallowing a lump in my throat. I fidgeted with the ropes on my hands. My breathing never calmed either. For what must've been the froth time that day, I felt like I was going to hyperventilate.

"Okay I'm gonna tell you a code word. Don't ever repeat it. If you can keep it a secret, you will pass. If you ever can't handle is and want to quit. Just say the word and we'll let you go instantly."

I nodded not trusting my voice.

"The code word is…Moomba."

He slowly stood up and began walking out the door. Did that mean he wasn't going to do it?

Suddenly he stopped and put a hand on the doorframe. "Rinoa…what Seifer and Zell are gonna do…they don't mean it. They will say things…they do will things…that will make them seem horrible. It's all an act. So please…try not to hate them when it's all over."

"Does that mean…you aren't?"

Squall glanced over his shoulder at me. "If I tortured you…you would have no physical injuries…but your mind would be lost forever."

And with that he left. Leaving me all by my lonesome in a room where one light bulb covered in dust was my only friend.

I don't know what exactly was going through my head at that moment. What's gonna happen? How much will it hurt? How long will it last? Can I handle it? Really just endless questions swimming through my head. And I was drowning in them. I had no idea what would happen. There was no way for me to know.

I wish I could tell you I sat there and was completely calm. My will as study as rock and my mind prepared for the upcoming events. However that was not the case. Not even close. I didn't cry, I wasn't there yet. I was still a little shocked by how everything just happened so fast. But I felt my body shivering slightly in anticipation. I stared at that door so hard it wouldn't have surprised me if I burned holes through it. Whatever would happen, I would have to endure.

Suddenly the door was thrown open interrupting my thoughts. Seifer stormed in and before I even had time to prepare myself, he punched me in the face. The chair went flying back and fell so the back was on the ground. My head banged against the floor. Seifer picked up the chair with one hand and placed it back on its legs. I saw Zell shut the door and look at me with a completely stoic face.

My face was swelling in pain already. Right on my cheek where he hit me. So that's what a punch feels like. Never been punched before until now. Gotta say…not anything fun. He hit me in the back of the head and I let out a grunt. Now my head hurt in two places. But surprisingly, it wasn't unbearable. It hurt sure, but I wasn't screaming. The pain subsided from stinging to just annoying throbs soon after.

I felt Seifer's hand on my shoulder. "Tell us the code."

Was he honestly expecting me to right away? Whatever go along with it. "No."

With strength I didn't know he had, he picked up the chair, with me in it mind you, and threw me into a wall. I fell to the ground and a loud groan escaped my lips.

I admit…that one hurt a bit.

He picked the chair back up and I saw Zell step forward. He landed a punch in my gut and all my air was lost. They both backed away and circled me as I wheezed for more breath. It was finally coming back to me only for Zell to slam me in the gut again. Needless to say I had to catch my breath again.

"The code?"

I wasn't even sure which one said it. I just shook my head and the beating continued. This time it was a little more continual. They didn't stop punching me the whole time. I don't know how long it lasted, must've been a good long time. My mind was blank during most of it, which was good. Otherwise I would be freaking out, they never really gave me the chance.

Then they both backed away and I felt extremely sore…of course. My head kinda rolled instead of turning. It hurt to even attempt to move my arms. At one point Zell was just banging on my thighs giving me numerous charlie-horses, so those hurt also. Basically, it wasn't just my head and my stomach that hurt; it was every inch of my body.

Seifer knelt down in front of me. "Well babe you haven't given up yet. That's not really saying anything though. We haven't actually tortured you yet."

"What?" My eyes widened in fear.

Seifer grabbed the bottom of the chair and flipped me. I laid on my back again and he stood over me.

"Torturing isn't just beating a person up." Zell picked me up as he spoke. "There is a lot of that involved. But it is all about finding a way to inflict heavy amounts of pain without damaging the person too much."

Zell walked past him as he talked and out the door, which was a questionable action. But Seifer just continued speaking. "You're done for today. Tomorrow you'll be even sorer. That's when it truly begins."

Seifer chuckled and left the room. The bastard actually _chuckled_. I found it a little hard to believe he wasn't enjoying this in some way.

Well that was the exciting part of the day. The rest of the day I sat there with the light on over my head. I wish there was something to look at besides the same old walls boxing me in. I don't know how long I sat there. I had no idea what the time was. It was impossible to even make a guess. My whole body ached but I'm sure you already figured that out.

I shifted a bit. "Now my ass hurts from this chair…great."

The door opened and subconsciously my body stiffened. I didn't relax at all when Selphie walked in with a plate of food. For all I knew Seifer would come barging in, eat the food, stab me with the fork, and then smash the plate on my head.

She put the plate on the floor and then untied me. "Bathroom break."

"You're kidding."

"Sorry," she smiled meekly at me. "I gotta be in here. Better me then Irvine right."

I sighed and made my way over to the toilet. You don't need to hear about it alright. You can imagine how awkward it was. I ate after and Selphie took the plate and left. She told me she wasn't supposed to talk so I didn't press her. I knew it was basically cheating that they gave me food anyways. She told me I would get a meal twice a day though. That was at least something to look forward too…I guess.

I struggled in the chair to get comfortable. I wished Selphie didn't tie the ropes so tight but once again I guess I couldn't complain. Looking back on my first day of torture it wasn't so bad. Yes I didn't enjoy it. I was scared of tomorrow, especially after what Seifer said. But I had some hope, some hope that I would be able to survive this. All I had to do was stay positive.

I kept thinking about what it would be like to be one of them. To live with the people I dreamed about. It was like winning the lottery or something. I bet everything they have to do, they do it in some cool way. That's what I thought about. That and that they would have to teach me to fire a gun. That was laughable on its own. They definitely had their work cut out for them.

With my whole body aching, I couldn't help but feel tired. I soon found myself falling asleep.

* * *

"Morning sunshine."

I opened my eyes just in time for a blindfold to be put over them. I felt someone punch me in the face and my nose was instantly on fire. I felt warn sticky liquid flow down and run over my mouth. I leaned forward so it wouldn't go in my mouth. I felt another punch in my cheek, this one so hard it tipped the chair over.

My breathing picked up. Those two punches hurt way more the last time. They obviously were holding back. They never even hit my nose once yesterday. This was the first time I bled from them. I now knew that I definitely underestimated them.

I heard footsteps and I felt someone kick me in the stomach. I began coughing just from the brute force. They didn't stop the kicks either. They continued as I laid on the ground. I wheezed every chance I could for air. But I never could hold much of it for another kick stole it all away. Finally it stopped and I found myself whining and groaning as I spit out blood. But my breathing never slowed down. The blindfold was a whole different method and it was a lot scarier.

"I told ya the real stuff starts today." It was Seifer's voice no doubt.

The blindfold was removed and I watched as they walked out the door. They didn't even pick up the chair. I just laid there on the ground moaning with a cough here and there. I saw Selphie come in and we went through the routine again. We didn't even say a word to each other the whole time. Gotta say though, the food they gave me was great. And they gave me a lot too. I figured it would be terrible food with tiny portions.

I didn't get that much peace because almost as soon as Selphie left, Zell and Seifer entered.

"The code?"

"No."

"Alright let's continue."

And they did. I was thrown into walls, punched, kicked. One point they even just straight out chocked me for a while. That was actually pretty scary. Not to mention my lungs were screaming after that. But I don't need to tell you all the details. Of how each time they left me I would be gasping for air. Moaning and coughing. One time Selphie walked in and I was crying. Not bawling my eyes out. Just some tears streaming down my face.

Well based off the meals I was given, I guess it was day three when they really and I mean _really_ stepped it up. They came in and I could barely lift my head already. I was actually starting to get scared of them. I couldn't help but shiver every time I thought about them. My body ached a lot more and I was finally feeling the full affects of a constant beating. I just let the chair take all my weight. I was leaning far forward and the only thing keeping me on the chair was the rope that tied me to it.

Well on the third day they came in and Seifer stood in front of me with his arms crossed while Zell walked behind me.

"Rinoa I'm surprised by you." He took a step towards me and I felt my pulse accelerate. "You haven't screamed out yet. You've moaned, grunted, groaned, even cried a little. But you've never screamed out and I figured you would've the first day. Well anyways…today you scream."

He nodded at Zell and I closed my eyes expecting a punch to the head. What I got was Zell grabbing my hand.

I stared at Seifer wide-eyed. "No! No don't!"

I screamed and I screamed loud. Zell snapped my finger back till it broke. I stomped my feet and threw my head back.

"Ah _God_!" I cried out to the heavens above.

It was totally different from any pain they did before. Every time it dulled after or just ached. I could stand losing my breath too. But this was just so much more. Even if just a finger, the pain was sharp and it was sent up my arm. I couldn't stop screaming.

I felt a tear slide down my cheek as I faced Seifer. He didn't look pleased or anything. He looked pissed as well. I knew that deep down he truly wasn't enjoying this. He was just trying to play the role.

He nodded again and I panicked. I fought this time. Zell grabbed my hand but I jumped forward best I could. The chair toppled over and I was on my face. Seifer grabbed the chair and threw me into the wall again. I tried to roll over but he got a kick to my gut ending any more resistance. Zell knelt down and grabbed my other index finger.

"No please…please don't." I begged. I know it sounds pathetic but I couldn't help it. It just hurt so much last time. More than anything ever.

Zell sighed and hesitated but he did it in the end. I screamed again and actually banged my head on the floor a couple times. I cried out again. This_…_I wouldn't be able to stand. If _this_ kept up I would quit soon. I just couldn't imagine myself resisting this.

They went back to just beating on me but I swear everything just hurt more now. I realized I have many more bones to break. This pounding stuff wasn't anything compared to bones breaking but it was also growing on me as well. I felt my nose gush blood for probably the twentieth time. They spilt my lip and cut me above my eye, which of course gushed a lot of blood. Head wounds always do. So my left eye was covered in blood making it impossible to see out of. It was really burning as well, which worried me about my vision.

This continued the rest of the day going at it like this. I screamed, I cried, I begged, I fought, I did everything but nothing made it easier. But I endured. The thought of joining the Saints still in my mind. As just the way Squall told me face to face that he wanted me to join. I couldn't let him down. I would make it through anything.

It must've been dinner since they left and Selphie walked in. Actually she walked in while they were pounding on me and had to instantly turn and face the wall. I guess it was too much for her. Selphie actually helped me eat this time. I couldn't manage it alone honestly, as sad as that is. Especially with my fingers the way they were. The food was good, at least one plus. It was Chicken Divine. It's this kinda cheesy chicken with other stuff all put together. Really good, really sloppy. Surprised where they got it, but I wasn't complaining.

Before I was tied back to the chair, I gained enough guts to bend my fingers back. I screamed and cried doing it but I got them back. Selphie tied me back to the chair. I figured Seifer and Zell would come in one more time before they let me sleep. What I didn't expect was them to come in right away. Literally before Selphie even closed the door Seifer walked in.

He took a couple steps and punched me hard in my stomach. I almost puked right there from that one punch. My food was all just settling in my stomach. There's one thing about me that you have to know. I hate to vomit. I'm legitimately scared of doing it. I cry and I get shivers through my whole body whenever I vomit. It weakens my entire state of mind. I become a complete coward and pushover when I puke.

When Seifer punched me in the gut again, I knew he was trying to make me. I knew if he did, I would be freaking out. For some reason I just can't take vomiting. I tried my hardest to keep everything in. But once again I couldn't resist forever.

"No don't," I whined to myself trying to keep it all down.

One last hard punch from Seifer right to my gut.

"Oh god."

I quickly turned my head and puked on the floor. It was disgusting and immediately I began crying hysterically. The tears just screamed down my face. My body, as usual, starting shaking as well. I coughed and spat the rest out. I tilted my head back and began just trying to shake myself free from the chair. I couldn't stand it; just vomiting for some reason does this to me.

"I wanna go!" I shouted. "Let me go!" I desperately pleaded.

Seifer just watched me. Watched as I completely lost it. As I let myself go crying and shaking. As I revealed my true self to him. I roared and hollered. My tears were flung everywhere as I shook my head. I shook so much that I tipped the chair over. Luckily not in my vomit, the other way. I banged my head on the floor just squirming so much. It hurt a lot but it didn't matter.

"Let me go!" I shouted from the floor as I made a futile attempt to scoot over to him.

Seifer's eyes were actually filled with worry for a moment. He quickly shut them then opened them and they were empty again.

"So you hate puking," Seifer wisely stated. "Makes you go ape shit."

I struggled more to get out.

"Is that all ya got Heartily," he taunted. "Just upchucking and you wanna quit."

The tears fell into my mouth as cried. "This isn't right! I shouldn't be here!"

"But you are!" Seifer shouted.

"I want out!" I screamed.

"Don't give up Heartily!" He shouted and I knew he was actually just trying to keep me going.

"Get me the fuck out of here!" Then my voice dropped to a whisper but it still sounded one hundred percent pathetic. "Please Seifer…let me go. I wanna go."

"You know what you have to do to leave," Seifer told me quietly. "All you have to do is say the code."

I swallowed. He was right. Could I really do it? Was everything I just did for a waste? I couldn't take it though. I just had to. I opened my mouth to forfeit but before I could Seifer left. He just walked out of the room slamming the door behind him.

"Come back!" I cried out desperately. "Come back! That's not fair! _Seifer_!"

No one did and I was left on the floor. I cried more that night then ever before. It wasn't just because of the vomiting. That just was able to open my sense. Before that I was in this delusional sense that this was worth it. But I knew I wouldn't be able to handle it. All they had to do was make me puke and I would give in instantly.

That night I didn't even sleep. I couldn't. I was debating whether or not to tell them the code the next morning. I knew that Seifer saved me by leaving. I was gonna give up right there, but now he gave me a night to think about it. Damn him, this night was so hard. I just cried and begged to no one. I was mumbling almost in a daze towards the early morning. I was completely losing it.

But I couldn't let Squall down. And thinking about not letting him down somehow lead me back to my mother. I wondered if she was in this much pain when she died. I didn't want to seem weak compared to her. Dieing with a smile on her face. How can you be any tougher? I thought about just pushing through to be as strong as her. And the more I thought about my mom, the more I started to fall into this daze where I just stopped.

I just stopped everything. Crying, begging, moving. I didn't fall asleep. I wasn't even sure if I blinked. I just stared at the door from the floor strapped to the chair. My hair covered my face and I licked the dried blood on my lips. I knew right then, that I wasn't going to quit. Something struck inside of me and I knew…I would prevail.

Selphie came in and gasped at the sight of me. At first I thought it was just because I was on the ground with vomit near me…but it wasn't. She came in to clean the vomit so she knew what happened. I guess I just looked that freaky laying on the ground staring at the door. Soon she left and Seifer and Zell walked in.

Zell picked me up and my head was hung. I didn't really care anymore what they did. I just wanted out but I wasn't going to quit. So I could only take it.

"What's the code?" Seifer asked.

I looked up at him. I stared at him for a long while. Peering through all my knotted hair around my face. He frowned and I figured he was afraid I would actually tell him.

I smirked. "Go fuck yourself."

A quick smile slid on his features before disappearing. "What was that?"

"Ya heard me." I said dryly. "Go fuck yourself like your mother's being fucked right now."

I heard chuckling behind me as Zell was trying to cover it up. It just caused me to smirk all the more. Seifer didn't even seem mad. If anything he seemed…proud. Probably because I was finally fighting back. Finally I wasn't just sitting there taking a beating. I accepted my fate and was gonna make the best of it.

"I'll make you pay for that."

"Go ahead," I laughed. "Make me scream more then your whore."

I don't know where this was coming from anymore or if it even made sense. Point is, I was talking back.

Seifer punched me hard in the face and I just laughed after it.

"Oh God its gonna be a long day if that's all ya got."

The beatings continued and after everyone I said some taunt. Many of them were dumb and didn't even really make sense. But it gave me more hope. It took some of my worries away. It made the time go faster.

"Like the taste of blood Heartily?" Seifer said as he split my lip again.

I licked my lip. "Love it."

This might've been the worst beating I've gotten yet. They never stopped they went all out. I was bleeding everywhere. I think I broke a couple rips as well. But I just kept laughing even though it hurt like hell.

"Last time!" Seifer yelled. "What's the code!"

"Bananas!"

He punched me. "The code?"

"Apples!"

He punched me again. "The code?"

"…Oranges?"

Punch. "The code!"

"Your mother!"

He gave me a double punch. "Give me the code!"

"Give me your treasure!" I shouted back.

If you couldn't tell…I completely lost it at that point.

"I'm gonna make you scream." Seifer warned.

"That's what _she _said."

Seifer smirked before flipping the chair so I was on my back once more. He grabbed my foot.

"What are ya gonna do tickle me?" I shouted laughing.

Truth be told I was kinda scared again. I was actually getting extremely frightened because I realized the room was getting hazy. My head took far too many beatings and my hands where just numb from the rope. I couldn't even lift my arms let alone move my legs.

Seifer gripped my big toe tightly. "You thought your finger hurt. Your big toe bone is actually thick. Your finger the pain slightly subsides because you are so use to your fingers getting hurt. But even when you just stub your toe it hurts like hell. Just imagine me bending this back until it snaps."

Imagining it scared the shit out of me. But I didn't show it.

"You got some foot-fetish or something."

Then he did it. I couldn't hold in the scream. I thought my finger hurt; boy did I wish for that pain again. I didn't know I could hold a scream so long. I couldn't grip anything I couldn't move. All I could do to fight the pain was scream. I did bang my head again since it was the only thing I could do. I pulled hard with my hands just because of the pain. The rope burns I accumulated over the past days started to bleed. I rocked in the fallen chair, and my only thought was to not bite off my own tongue.

"You sick bastard!"

I felt Seifer grab my other big toe. "Round two Heartily!" He shouted. "The code!"

"Suck it!" I shouted as I wiggled my big toe he was holding.

I couldn't tell ya what I was thinking when I said that. I knew I had gone insane. I was in for another world of hurt. He broke the other one. I don't think I really need to tell you how I felt again. You know. It was the same as last time. I screamed as the tears rolled down my face. I fought against the chair as hard as I could. I never knew my feet could hurt so much.

"Fuck you guys!" I screamed. It was easier to just get mad than scared.

"The code!" Zell shouted this time.

First time I think he spoke.

"Bite me!" And with God as my witnessed I barked at him. Like raving dog gone mad, I barked and hollowed. I even tried to bite him.

I could only imagine what Seifer and Zell where thinking. They probably thought they drove me too insanity. Hell I was beginning to think that. They had to watch me as I struggled in the chair screaming, crying, and barking. That's just fucked up.

Zell picked up the chair and set it back on its legs. I tried to bite his arm but he recoiled quickly. Damn his reflexives. They both quickly exited and I found myself alone.

I stopped barking and just kept crying. With them gone the pain was all too real again. I felt dizzy and the room was spinning. My whole body ached and my feet where beyond describing. I wondered what the hell giving birth would be like now. Was I set on that? Was it actually worse? Hell maybe it would be easy compared to this?

I stopped screaming after a while. I kept my feet on my heels so no pressure would be on my toes. They were pointing up at me though…think about that. I just tried not to think about them. I was leaning forward again and the rope held me to the chair. My hands were covered in blood just from my wrists' skin being burned off…another interesting thought. My hair was filled with dirt and blood. It clung to my face and was just all over the place. My left eye was still full of blood and it was impossible to see out of. I could only really see my legs out of my right eye since I was leaning forward.

Suddenly I heard the door open. I didn't even look to see who it was. Which is why I was surprised to hear Squall's voice.

"Congratulations Rinoa." Squall's voice was gentle. "You passed."

"Do I get a ribbon?"

"Eh no."

"Fuck off then."

Squall chuckled. "I heard you got extremely sarcastic. That's good. That is the way to beat the torture. Well there's a time when you stop, but hey if you're gonna die, might as well make it fun."

"If you don't got a ribbon then fuck off."

Hearing I passed didn't suddenly put me in a good mood. I was just as pissed as ever. I don't think I would be able to forgive them as soon as I got out. It would definitely take time.

"Well there is one more test…well two. But they are kinda combined." Squall explained leaning against the door.

That was a dagger to my hopes slashing them to tiny little pieces. I lifted my head for the first time and sent him a deadly glare. I was hoping for some kind of reaction…sadly I got none.

He started taking his shirt off. "Sad to say this…but I gotta _do_ _you_."

My head snapped up. "If you come near my I'll bite your fucking throat off."

Squall but his shirt back down and chuckled again. "Relax I'm kidding but geez you're scary."

"I've been beaten upon for days." I gave me the biggest 'no duh" look I could. "Of course I'm pissed."

"Yeah you got the whole exorcist thing going on." He so wisely observed.

"Why don't you just start punching me or something."

He raised his hands up defensively. "I'm not here to beat you. You passed that part or did they damage your hearing." I didn't bother to respond to such a poor attempt of a joke. "Okay fine…anyways I'm here to talk to you."

"Talk to me?" I let out an eerie laugh. "Are you gonna play mind games or something. _My mind will be lost forever_. Yeah right."

"I'm gonna go easy on you," He leaned against the door crossing his arms. "The last thing we need is for you to go insane.""

"Too late." I said.

Squall smirked knowingly "You haven't gone crazy at all, it's all an act. It makes it easy to stand, so you are perfectly fine for this."

"Whatever."

He clapped his hands together. "Okay well let's start. You killed your mom."

What…The…Fuck. That's easy. The sick bastard. "What you say?" I don't think my voice could've been any scary. Such a harsh deadly whisper.

"You killed your mom. Don't make me repeat myself, listen."

"I didn't kill her."

Squall nodded. "Right right. The other driver did."

"Yes," I said dryly trying to keep from lunging at him. I don't even think the chair would be able to stop me this time. He was going way off limits.

"But she was driving you somewhere." He accused.

"She wanted to go also."

"To Barney On Ice…yes I'm sure she was ecstatic for that."

"She was." I argued raising my voice. "She loved-"

"Anything to do with you." Squall finished the sentence for me. "Fact of the matter is. You forced your mom to do what you wanted to do. She drove you and then died."

"The other-"

"-Driver wouldn't have killed your mom if you didn't force her there."

The bastard keeps cutting me off.

"That's not-"

"It is true," he caught me off again. "You know if you didn't make her go she would be alive right now. Hell you wouldn't be here. Your father might be alive too…naw that's a lie. He was a bad person." Suddenly his face lit up. "Hey you killed someone, you must've gotten along."

"I didn't kill anyone!" I shouted.

"Oh Rinoa surely you don't think that way." He walked over to me and knelt down looking intently at my face. "Is that what they told you? It's not your fault. You're a big girl now Rinoa, you have to face the truth. Your mom died because you put her there."

"It's not my fault. She-"

"Wouldn't have been there." Squall stood up and stepped back. If he caught me off again I swear I would kill him. "Why would she ever be there if you didn't want to go to the ice rink. If I tossed someone off the cliff, I didn't kill him. The fall did."

"It's not the same thing." I argued pulling at the ropes again.

"But it is…it really is." He leaned against the wall and thought for a moment. "What did you first think when your mother died. I wonder if you even cared at all about her. I mean you sure as hell didn't care your dad died. They were slightly different people, but all the same…how heartless of you. I bet you just wanted to go to the show afterwards."

"I was scared."

"What that you'd miss Barney."

"Shut up!" I screamed. "I didn't kill her!"

"You know you did Rinoa!" Squall shouted back. "You rationalize it saying that it was a car accident. But why were you there, Rinoa?"

"Shut up!" I yelled fighting back the tears.

"Your mother is gone forever," Squall paced back and forth before me. "You can never see her, you can never feel her. She is gone from this world and the real reason behind it was not some car accident. It was _you _Rinoa."

Squall pointed a finger at me and in that instant I felt all the blame once again. When it happened I knew it was my fault. People told me it wasn't and over time I guess I began to believe them. But Squall brought it all back. It was really my fault. But it was my problem to deal internally. I wasn't going to bawl my eyes out to him. So instead I yelled.

"You don't fucking know me!" I shouted.

"I do!" He yelled back. "I know everything there is to know. I know who you really are. A murderer. Killing your own mother and act like it wasn't your fault. But by doing so you are left all alone. No family get-togethers. No birthday presents. Not even any arguments. You are all alone now Rinoa."

"Just shut the fuck up!" I screamed as I lunged toward him. I just fell on my face but I kept squirming to get closer.

He just eyed me humorously. "Ever wonder what it would be like if she didn't die? If you didn't kill her."

"I didn't kill her!" I shouted. "And I'm not alone!" There were others who cared about me. Maybe not my immediate family but others…right?

Squall smirked. "When you turned _of age_ did your father have to give you _the talk_? Man that must've been awkward."

"Shut up!" It was such a loud-pitched screech I almost flinched after. Although he didn't flinch, he just kept that stupid fucking smirk on his face the whole time.

Suddenly he walked behind me and untied my hand and then my feet. I watched him curiously but still breathing hard from the rage I had at him now.

He set the chair back up and stepped up onto it. He slid his hand into his sleeve and twisted the light bulb out of the ceiling. The room instantly went black. The only light was from underneath the door connecting this hellhole back to the world. I heard Squall step down and drag the chair. The door opened and the slight shown in.

He tossed the chair and light bulb into the other room. He turned around and faced me. "Humans are gregarious by nature. Do you know what that means?"

"Do I fucking care?"

"It means we need to have social interaction. You will live in darkness and be completely isolated from all humans. Let's see if you don't go crazy now."

And with that he shut the door and soon the crack of light underneath was covered. I literally couldn't see anything. My eyes…sorry my _eye_, wouldn't get use to the darkness either. It was pitch-black without any chance for light to reflect off my eye and grant me vision. I laid on the floor and the pain immediately flooded back. Except it didn't matter anymore. Nothing was in more pain then my mind and spirit after what Squall just accused me off.

Me killing my own mother, that boldface lie shouldn't affect me…unless it's true.

* * *

**Yeah so this whole torture idea might seem dumb to you. But to me it would make sense they would have to test her like this. Also if you think it went kinda fast, like her whole conversation thing. Well I'm sure you didn't want this whole chapter extended into another one. I tried to make it as good as possible and as short as possible. The short part was a fail. **

**Leave a review!  
**


	7. Success

**A/N: Okay well sorry for the long wait, at least I think it's long. Actually you guys have to thank Fantasy Fan Girl. I wasn't going to post this for another couple days but let's just say she needed it. **

**So I hope you like it, I honestly don't that much. But I've become fairly picky with my chapters.

* * *

  
**

**POV Rinoa**

So there I was, sitting in a room all by myself and not able to see a damn thing. When people say they can't see their own hand…I _literally_ can't see my own hand. My entire body is sore and every time I move I groan. My head is pounding like an engine, and every time I turn my head I feel like I'm gonna fall over. My sense of direction and balance is completely out of whack.

I can't even describe my feet to you. Imagine repeatedly jamming your toe into a wall and not stopping. Then take that same toe and shove it in a fire and after that smash it with a hammer.

That's about what I feel right now.

Oh and I can't forget about my left eye. It has so much blood in it right now I don't even know if I'll be able to see out of it when I am done with this.

I looked around trying to find myself…wasn't possible. I would have to get next to a wall and learn where I generally am. To get to a wall would involve me moving which hurts like hell. But I can deal with the soreness, it's my feet that I can't move at all.

I sat up _very_ slowly. I reached out my hand and tried not to move my index finger because that –of course – was also broken. I had to bend my toes back, I wouldn't be able to survive if they stayed like this. But I knew bending them back would hurt just as much as when they first we broken. Well…maybe not exactly as much, but they would sure hurt a hell of a lot.

I reached out to my foot and felt my fingers brush against it and hissed loudly. Remember I _can't_ see. I hovered my hand over where I was pretty sure my toe was.

"Oh God oh God oh God," my breathing increased until I cut it off entirely. I closed my eyes and grabbed my toe into a fist and pushed it back in place.

I instantly screamed and rolled around on the ground. It didn't make the pain go away or help bare it anymore. If anything it just hurt my other toe but I couldn't just sit there and take the pain. The tears streamed down my face as rolled on my stomach and clawed at the ground for any type of relief. It didn't come.

Right then I knew I wouldn't be able to do this again. I had to do the other toe now.

With my adrenalin pumping I sat up and grabbed my other toe. I bit my lip so hard I think I felt my teeth touch. I pushed it back in place and more screams filled the room. Echoing around me like a taunting dance. I couldn't get away from them, and I couldn't stop them. The blood flowing from my lip into my mouth was more than I could handle. I couldn't exactly spit since I was still _fucking_ _screaming_. All I could do was lean forward so when I cried out in pain gravity would cause the blood to drip out of my mouth.

The pain didn't die, but it subsided enough so I wouldn't keep screaming. I only stopped crying because I simply ran out of tears. I was out of breath and so tired that all I could do was lie on my back. Every time my chest rose – which was many times – my ribs hurt. I had my arms outstretched and my head to the side so I could spit the blood out. Biting my lip to relieve the pain was a dumb idea.

But I was slowly taking care of myself. All I had to do was fix as much as I could and then just wait. So far I did all I could, the last thing I needed to do was my eye. It was filled with blood, most of it hard and crusty now. Gross. I couldn't even open my eyelid easily. I knew I had to wash it out and the only water in the place was in the toilet.

I groaned loudly. I didn't even know where that was. I inched my way over to a wall trying not to hurt myself anymore. Too bad every part of me hurt no matter what I did. I made it too the wall and slowly headed along it. I hit a corner and discovered that I was just a bit left of the toilet. I finally reached it. I leaned over and reached my hand down.

"It's just water…right?" I tried to reassure myself that this wasn't disgusting.

Not really making me feel any better, I just went ahead with rinsing my eye out. I scoped the water up the best I could to just get something else in it besides the blood. The tears were helping wash out my eye somewhat, but I still had blood in it and all around it. But after a couple scoops I managed to open it and behold! I was met with darkness.

Well I made my way back over to a wall and leaned against it. I had my feet straight out and my lip was starting to stop bleeding. I still had to spit here and there. This made me think about what this room looks like with light. There has to be blood all over it. Blood and tears mixed to show the water-colored painting of my emotions in this locked box. Hey I'm getting more creative, one good thing out of doing all this.

Now that I just had to wait, my mind began wandering. Right back to the conversation I had with Squall just a couple minutes ago…I think. Maybe it was more, God I hoped it was more.

"The balls of that guy."

He really pissed me off. Saying I killed my own mom. It was a car accident, and I was little. How it is remotely my fault. Maybe we were there because of me, but I didn't crash the car. I didn't hit us. It wasn't even my mom's fault, it was the other bastard.

I wasn't sure if my eyes were closed or open but I could see my mom. Not in her beauty and elegance. But in the front seat looking back at me. With the blood streaming down her face and her arm twisted into an inhuman position. Her eyes filled with such worry, not for herself…but me. Then that smile with her beautiful white teeth being ruined with the red crimson staining them. She just smiled at me…smiled and said everything would be alright.

And I believed her. I completely believed her, even with all the blood on her. With my arm hurting and everyone screaming outside. I just looked into her eyes and that smile. I knew it would be alright because she was my mom and moms are never wrong.

As soon as I was pulled from that car and she saw me being taken away to safety. I saw her head drop and her leave this world after making sure I was okay.

I slammed my head back into the wall in agony. I wanted to cry for her but I had no more tears. I just dry sobbed with nothing to give but still one hundred percent pathetic. My hands shook as they reached into my shirt and pulled out my mother's ring around a silver chain.

I rubbed my thumb around it keeping my index finger straight. I didn't need to see the gleam to know how it looked. It had been my strength for years. I could only hope it would give me the same support in this situation. I had never been in one worse than this.

I squeezed it tightly and closed my eyes trying to think of my mom doing something joyful. Playing the piano, reading me a story, just bothering Caraway. She would always help me annoy my dad. And back then he didn't care so much. He would just smile and say 'not now'. If I did that today he would've started screaming. Mom really brought the best out of everyone.

And as I tried to think of _one, _single happy thought. I could only see her in the car crash. With a red stained face and her just telling me over and over it would be alright.

The door opened and I snapped my head in that direction. Something was thrown in…a plate? And the door was quickly shut again leaving me all to my lonesome once again.

I literally crawled over to the food…it smelled horrible. Then again everything I smelled had a metallic blood smell. If you couldn't tell, I was living in a hellhole.

The food was slop. It fit I guess, but this would only remind me of being in here. I wouldn't be able to taste some glamorous food and picture being somewhere else. I searched for a utensil but I couldn't find one. And believe me I looked, there wasn't one in the room. Not really caring for manners anymore I just dug in with my hand.

It tasted as bad as I thought it would. But I finished it and before realizing what I was doing. I knocked on the door signaling I was done. I hastily backed away. I watched curiously to see what would happen. I felt like a dog living under his master's porch. Getting fed and then just retreating to the shadows.

I watched for a good long time, I have no sense of time but I knew it was a long time. To be completely honest I wasn't even sure where the plate was anymore. Everything looked the same so for all I knew I could've been staring at the ceiling. But when nothing happened I finally gave up and moved back to a wall.

My mind wandered to many things but they always revolved back to Squall and the part I played in my mother's death. I hated Squall just for putting the blame on me but it shouldn't bother me unless there was some truth in his words. I wanted more than anything to reject them, but I just couldn't.

I knew that I was the cause of my mom's death. Like Squall said we wouldn't have been there if it wasn't for me. Even if I didn't do the immediate killing, I was the outside cause. I was the cause and the effect was my mother's life.

People always told me it wasn't my fault, they told me over and over it wasn't. But I knew…_I knew._ And I also knew my dad blamed me. That's why we always got in fights after she was gone. Hell if I was married and one of my kids killed me husband. I would hate them too. So I didn't blame him. I just didn't want to admit that's why he didn't like me.

That I killed his wife, his spouse, his lover and my mom…I killed Julia Heartily.

I wasn't sure when I feel asleep but I did. I didn't dream at all I just woke up. And I was met with darkness and I made my way over to the door and found the still empty plate.

Did that mean it wasn't even morning, maybe it was early morning still. What if I only fell asleep for an hour? God it was horrible not knowing what time it was.

And that was the how I went on for days. I fell in and out of sleep. It was truly hard to tell sometimes if I was awake or asleep in the darkness. But my only thoughts were about my mom and Squall. There wasn't anything else. No cool joining Saints and saving the city thoughts. No getting extremely close with Squall thoughts. That was the last thing I wanted to do, I wanted to kill him.

But all I wanted to do was get out of here. I was in so much pain, I was so tired, I was so scared, and I was just completely guilt-stricken.

* * *

_**???**_

I don't know what's going on anymore. I don't know what day it is, based off the meals I think I've been in isolation for three days. But I feel hungrier then I usually do and I think it might just be the gruel they are giving me now, but I wonder if they are messing with the serving times. I base my days off that and they know this. They know that I would base time off the meals and they control it, they control _my _meals. They control time then. They could change it to whatever and I would never notice…ever. They control the environment. They know everything I'm doing probably; I don't even know what I'm doing.

I just wanna leave through that door. But that would cause me to fail…but he didn't say that. He didn't say anything. I don't even know if that door is locked. Maybe it is open and I am just a turn of the knob out of here. Maybe this is another test of self-assertiveness. Taking action into my own hands. I think they want me to leave through that door. But what if they don't and I got out and fail. All this will be for nothing. Maybe none of them are out there right now though. If I could just get to a clock and see what time it really is.

But that would be cheating. But wouldn't I do that if this situation was real. I bet Squall's sitting out there waiting for me. He wants me to think like this. He thought he was gonna get in my head but I've figured him out.

I slam myself onto the ground. "What the fuck!" I shout to no one. I hold my head. "God damn it! He knew this would happen! I know he knew, he's a fucking bastard doing this. Damn it I'm not gonna lose."

I grabbed the door handle and turned it expecting it to be locked. But it wasn't…

"Oh shit oh shit oh shit." I quickly let go and stumble backwards.

He's out there, he's doing it right now. He left it open just so I would try it. Ah shit ah shit. Did someone see me, maybe no one saw me. Should I do it again and see what happens. I'm not technically opening the door. I wont and if no one comes then no one is there. That means I might be able to go out and check a clock.

"For fuck's sake listen to yourself!" I shout again.

I'm not making sense, I know I'm not and its probably because I don't know how _fucking_ long I've been in here. Christ's sake I wanna get out of here. I'm sick of not knowing, I'm sick of feeling trapped and confined. I just want to get my life back. Fuck all this shit, seriously just fuck this. I can't deal with all this. I just can't.

"Just stop thinking," I told myself and my eyes lid up. I laughed a little, "That's it, just stop thinking. I'll beat Squall that way. He thinks I'll just keep thinking 'cause I'll want to out think him but to do that I just simply don't think."

I laid on the floor and just tried to blank my mind. It didn't work in the least bit. My mind was still racing wondering if I should go out the door or not. But soon my mom came back into my mind and that was _not_ a good thing. Ever since I admitted to being the cause of her death, she's been plaguing me.

I can legit' hear her voice. It wasn't soothing, it wasn't calming. It was hurtful because it was blaming.

"_Didn't you like me dear? _

I closed my eyes and tried to turn my thoughts away.

"_Why did I have to go?"_

"Stop it," I whimper back.

"_Honey…it wasn't my time, I didn't want to go yet."_

"Mom…stop."

I brought my knees up to my chest and quickly pulled her ring out. I held it closely hoping it would bring me peace.

"_Why Rinoa?'_

It didn't. "Shut up."

"_Why don't you answer me?"_

"'Cause you're not real," I held myself.

Those words for meant for me, to reassure myself that she was indeed gone. That I was, in fact, talking to myself.

"_Rinoa?"_

I just hold myself closer hoping for sleep to come to rid myself of the pain.

"_Rinoa I loved you."_

A tear slid down my cheek. "Please stop." I begged.

"_Did you not love me?"_

"Stop it!" I actually shout this time.

"But Rinoa-"

"You're not real!" I shout again.

"_You caused my death dear."_

I let out a frustrated scream and I chucked my mother's ring in what I think was in the direction of the door.

"Just leave me alone!"

My knees were tight to my chest and I stuck my hands between them. It was a feeble position no doubt, but I was simply hoping for sanctuary in this place. My mother's voice turned to distance echoes surrounding me. I rocked myself trying my best to fall asleep even though my dreams mixed with my reality now. Every time I rocked my body shivered in pain and yet it was welcoming compared to the emotional torture I was going through right now.

But I did fall asleep. Once again I don't know how long. I woke up sore as usual and my face was hardened with tears. I didn't dare stretch because my body would writhe with pain. I just slowly made my way to the door.

Every time I wake up, I go check the door to see if I have a plate of food. It was the only way to tell if some time had passed. This time I was also going to retrieve my necklace, which I threw. With a bit of sleep my head was a little clearer again. But whenever I am awake too long in this place I always start to lose it slightly.

I searched around the door I couldn't find my necklace. I felt panic rise in me as I searched a little more thoroughly. It hurt of course not moving with the utmost care, but I needed to find the necklace. Yet I couldn't, it wasn't anywhere near the door. Soon I moved to just all over the place.

"Oh god where'd it go," I whimpered.

Anything that came out of my mouth was just a pathetic hushed cry that would only be described as a whimper.

Maybe I threw it in the toilet. For the first time since I was untied from the chair. I rose to my feet and took maybe two steps before coming crashing to the ground. I hissed back the pain. I dragged myself over to the toilet and jammed my hand in.

Only after I felt nothing did I realize I would've heard the splash. I turn around and press my back against the toilet. I felt lower than a toilet, which its job is to collect shit. I threw my mother's wedding ring. She was gone, she officially left me.

I wrapped my arms around myself. "Mom…I'm sorry." I felt a salty tear slid into my mouth and it made me wonder how many times I cried in this room. How many times I cried to endure all this pain they were putting me through.

My mom was helping me, because she was strong and I wished to be like her. But now she was gone and I had no hope left. I didn't have a chance in doing this. I would never become a Saint. I wouldn't get to fight for my beliefs defending those in need. I would simply go back to my old life and just having this awful memory to bear.

But more than anything I felt so empty right now. I always felt something inside of me, but since I chucked my mother's ring. There was nothing, I felt emptiness and that was easily the worst feeling. I am a terrible person. I just tossed my mom away because she was asking hard, but _truthful_ questions.

"Mom." I whined just hoping she would answer. "Mom…" Still nothing. I hung my head defeated. I was now completely alone.

I stayed sitting next to the toilet for hours, it must've been hours. Even if it wasn't it felt like hours to me and that's all that mattered. I didn't really think about anything anymore. The only question in my mind was how long I had to stay in here. I wasn't sure if I would be able to take much longer. Just a couple days screwed with my head enough.

"Rinoa."

My head shot up and snapped towards the door.

"Hey Rinoa."

It was an urgent sounding hushed whisper. But it was a whisper, which meant it was a voice…belonging to a person.

I scampered over to the door grunting in pain as I did. I actually stumbled and crashed into the door. But I quickly recovered.

"Who is it?" I pressed my head against the door.

"Rinoa thank God," there was a sigh of relief. "It's Zell."

"What are you doing?" This had to be cheating or something right?

"Look Rinoa there isn't time," he sounded really rushed. "They are waiting for me at the elevator. Rinoa you have to quit."

"Wh-wha…wh-why?"

"Squall wants to keep you in there for two weeks…at the least."

"How long has it been?" I needed to know.

"Three days almost four." He answered quickly and I felt my whole body just sink. "Please Rinoa this is crazy, Irvine only had to stay in for a five days and he scratched off his finger nails."

"Why do I have to go longer?"

"He saw you turn the knob."

My eyes widened. He was outside the door, he was watching me. Waiting for me to make a mistake like that. He was expecting, there was no other reason and because of that I have to stay at least two weeks. There was no way I could do that. I was going crazy after a few days.

"So Rinoa please this is crazy. Just give up, everyone will understand."

"I can't."

"Yes you can, no one will think poorly of you. We've put you through a lot. Please just give up, it's impossible."

I shook my head and chuckled at my own stupidity. "I will stay in here for a month if that's what it takes." What the fuck was I saying. I hated it in here. I just wanted to get out and be done with everything.

But even if I hated this more than anything and it was hell. I was not a quitter, and I would not quit. If that's what it takes to pass this test, then I would do it. I don't care if I literally go insane in the process. How would I be able to live with myself the rest of my life if I just gave up?

Every day I would be disgusted with myself for stopping. Everyday I would wake up in my bed back at my apartment and wonder what it would be like to be with the Saints. Everyday I would have to deal with being a failure. Everyday I would wish for a second chance. Every _Goddamn fucking_ _day_ I would realize the opportunity I truly missed out on.

I would succeed.

"Rinoa please think rationally."

I chuckled again. "This is the most coherent thought I've had in awhile. I will not quit."

I heard Zell mumble something and I waited anxiously to what he would say. I didn't expect a shout of joy. Suddenly many more shouts were followed after that. The door was thrown open and I raised a hand ready to block the light but there wasn't any.

The whole living room was dark except for two candles, one on the coffee table in front of the couch, and the other on the kitchen table. They made it dark just for me so I wouldn't strain my eyes. Everyone was there, Quistis and Selphie on the couch, with Irvine in the armchair next to it. Seifer was standing behind Irvine and Zell was standing just to my right. Where was Squall? I scanned over once again. No I didn't miss him. Squall wasn't there.

That bastard.

I put my hand on the doorframe ready to push myself up. I got up a little and Zell saw me struggle. He reached to help me but I instantly recoiled backwards onto the floor. Zell quickly stepped back looking horrified. He knew I was afraid of him.

Yeah I admit it, I was afraid of him. If someone beat the shit out of you for a couple days you would be too.

Everyone noticed this and there was a huge awkward pause. No one moved including me simply because I knew I wouldn't be able to stand and I wasn't t going to crawl out of the room like a dog.

Not surprisingly Quistis was the first to move. She rose from the couch and walked over to me. She reached out her hand and I was happy to accept it.

To describe what it felt like to touch someone else after being in that room. It was amazing, simply pure heaven, I held back the tears. It was finally over and I was with _real_ human contact again. Not people just torturing me. Her hands were not rough and blood stained. They were smooth and soft. They gave me so much comfort.

She lifted me to my feet and wrapped an arm gently around my waist. She led me to the couch and slowly guided me down into the soft plushness. How did I stay in that room on that hard floor? I actually closed my eyes just feeling my body sink into the couch.

When I opened them everyone was just staring at me. Like I was going to say something. What did they expect me to say? Thanks for the training? If anything it would be 'fuck you guys'. Especially Squall, where was that bastard?

"Hey uh Rinoa?" It was Zell. "Look I don't expect you to forgive me really. But please you have to know I'm really sorry, I didn't want to do that."

I nodded. It was true, I know he didn't enjoy it. That didn't mean I was going to forgive him right off the back though. I knew once I started feeling better I probably would, just because it would all be in the past. But as of right now…it wasn't.

"Rinoa," Quistis motherly gentle voice soothed me as I looked at her. "You're safe now. Don't worry there are no more tests. You are apart of our family now and we will all help you recover. So please don't feel like you have something to prove right now."

I knew exactly what she was talking about. I was still trying to hold onto my dignity…like I had any left. Maybe they didn't know that though. They might not know what exactly happened in the room. In the room I cried myself to sleep almost every time. But as soon as you are with people again you don't want to cry. You want to try and act brave in some way.

However all hope of keeping my dignity vanished when Quistis said that. Because in all honesty, I wasn't brave or strong. I was still scared to death and I just needed to be with someone beside myself right now.

So when the tears started coming again, I didn't care that everyone was just staring at me feeling pity. Quistis wrapped an arm around me and leaned her head on mine. I just turned into her and wrapped my arm around her so I cried into her chest. She didn't care, she just brushed my hair and held me. Then I tried to lift my legs up but they were too sore and tired for me to simply get them up. Quistis realized what I was doing and looped an arm under my knees. She pulled my legs up so I was sitting on her lap crying into her.

It may sound pathetic and sad, but it was the most satisfying, relieving, and warming feeling I have felt in a long while.

Quistis held onto my legs to make sure I wouldn't slip off her and she just pressed her head into mine. Her shirt was becoming completely soaked from my tears but she didn't seem to care in the least. She rubbed my back and whispered comforting words to me.

Finally someone in this place has compassion. God I missed decent people like her.

I heard a door open and I looked up to see Squall stepped into the room. "Let's go guys." He had his coat on and just glanced over me quickly. He set two small bottles on the coffee table. "Three drops from the left one, two from the right…everyday." He then reached into his pocket. "Here."

And he tossed me my mother's ring. Just like that. The asshole.

He quickly walked out the door with Zell, Irvine, and Seifer following him out.

Before I could stop myself I pushed off of Quistis and just fell onto the coffee table. "You fucking asshole!" I screamed through my tears. I let out a frustrated scream crying hard once again.

Quistis quickly dropped to the floor and wrapped me in her arms again.

I brought my mother's ring up to my face and just stared at it. I don't know why I didn't make sense that it was just taken. I was trapped in that room and if it wasn't here, it would be out here. Was I really not thinking that clearly?

Quistis and Selphie helped me back onto the couch. I sat between them and just kept my head down looking at the ring. I rubbed my fingers over it relishing the feeling of it being back in my possession.

"Rinoa would you like something to eat?" Quistis asked me kindly.

I didn't respond.

"I'll get you some soup, easy on your stomach." Quistis stood up and I quickly grabbed her arm.

I didn't want her to leave me. Even with Selphie still next to me, I wanted Quistis there. I had to see Selphie while in that room, even if she didn't do anything. She still brought some bad memories. Quistis was fresh and new.

Quistis smiled understanding me. "Selphie go get a bowl of soup preferably a thinner one." Quistis sat back down and Selphie went about the task without waiting for me to tell them I didn't really want any.

"So Rinoa you want me to tell you the plan for what's next?"

I knew Quistis was just trying to keep my mind occupied asking me simple things. I was okay with it. I wanted to be occupied.

Quistis continued on without waiting for my response seeing how I didn't give her one. "You will simply take as much time as you need to recover. There is no rush, and we will do anything and everything you ask. Then when _you_ want to, we will start your training."

"What's my training?" I spoke quietly. I could hear Selphie put a bowl of soup in the microwave and press some buttons. The rhythmic hum of it soon started. The noise was also welcoming. There was no noise in that room to remind me of my existence in this world. Sometimes I would just flush the toilet to get a sound that would be familiar.

"Well everything really," Quistis crossed one leg over the other professionally as she spoke. "You will learn to shoot a gun definitely. Then there is also the physical training you must go through. Squall has this all planned out. He also will teach you some close quarters combat."

"Squall…" I just repeated his name. It left a big disdain in my mouth.

Quistis signed. "Yeah he goes over the top a lot. But you know he didn't enjoy this either."

"That may be…"

Selphie sat down next to me and put the bowl of soup on the coffee table. She placed the spoon down next to it. I think I mumbled a thank you, I'm not sure though. I didn't think about it, might've just been a mechanical thing. I didn't make a move for it though. Just eyed it.

"He did care though Rinoa," Selphie spoke very softly. I think she was afraid I was mad at her as well. Wasn't too far off I guess.

I just huffed slightly still playing with my mom's ring.

"Look over there," Quistis nodded her head to my left.

I glanced over and saw some puzzle boxes. "So?"

"Squall did those every night," Selphie told me. "He made sure someone was outside this door at all times. Just in case, and he always stayed up the whole night."

"How kind of him. He even held onto my ring for me. I should thank him." I was pretty sure they caught the sarcasm. I was laying it on pretty damn thick.

"He took it because he figured it must've meant a lot to you," Quistis explained. "He was simply trying to make you crack. He didn't want to keep you in there forever. That's why he placed your mom's death on you and took the ring. He was trying to speed the process up a little. And it made you constantly think about your mom which undoubtedly made you sad."

"He didn't mean anything he said or did," Selphie said.

"Doesn't matter." I replied hotly. "Didn't seem to care much that I was out."

"He had somewhere to go," Quistis answered.

"It wouldn't have hurt him a couple minutes."

"He was already running late."

"To what?"

"To the hearing."

I looked over at Quistis. "Hearing?"

She nodded. "You were here so you didn't hear about the latest case. It is quite debatable."

I turned back to my soup and picked up the spoon. I was kinda hungry and it was already here. I scooped some soup and slowly lifted it to my mouth. The liquid was so refreshing and warm when it went down my throat I almost cried tears of joy. I picked up the bowl and held it in my lap as I listened to Quistis.

"Apparently a father was raising a seventeen year old daughter all alone. When he got drunk he would come home and try to have sex with her because she reminded him of his wife that died. When the daughter fought back he would just start beating her relentlessly. I think sometimes he managed to push past her resistance sadly. She would be covered with bruises and just cry herself to sleep. She was hoping it would stop but her father just continued to come home every night drunk."

"So Squall killed the father?" I asked.

Quistis shook her head. "The daughter did. He was lying on the couch drinking beer after beer watching TV. She knew he would get drunk again and it would only be a matter of time before he came after her again. So she grabbed a knife and stabbed him. She then called the police and they arrested _her_."

"Well that's protocol."

"She's being tried for murder," Quistis said and I almost spilled my soup.

"You're kidding, it was self-defense."

Quistis shook her head again. "There wasn't a current attack going on. She should've called the police or got help. She couldn't stab him unless he was attacking her at the moment."

"But she has to win the case right?"

"They were dirt poor. She couldn't get a lawyer and the one's the government gives you suck. They are there basically so you can lose the case. But that's why Squall is involved. I'll spare you the details but he made contact with the girl. He heard her part and decided she was telling the truth. So he is paying for a good lawyer so she can fight this case."

I smiled a little hearing that. Squall helping out the little people. "Do you guys do stuff like this often."

"From time to time," Quistis answered. "We don't just kill people. That doesn't help those in need. We help as many as we can too."

Quistis stood up. "Now I think we should clean you up."

I put the soup down; I had enough to be satisfied. "Like what…a bath?"

"Yes exactly that." Quistis helped me up and Selphie took my bowl.

I used Quistis as a crutch as we headed down the hallway that Squall came out of. The one connected to the living room. I walked on the balls of my feet so my toes wouldn't touch the ground. We walked slowly and I had a hand pressed against the wall to keep my balance.

"I'll give you a tour later when you feel better." Quistis told me. It was for the best because I wasn't paying attention at all to where we were going.

But we found the bathroom with about five candles lighting this room as well. She sat me down on the toilet as she turned the faucet on. The water poured in and she put some soap in so the bubbles instantly began forming. I couldn't remember the last time I took a bath. It was definitely a long time ago but I had to say, it looked refreshing.

"Okay strip." Quistis told me.

I gave her a look. "You're staying in here?"

"Please I don't want this to be uncomfortable. I have to take care of you."

"But…" I trailed off. I don't really like to be completely naked in front of girls but I could do it if necessary. But this time I might need help getting into the bathtub and that would be awkward.

Quistis just signed, "Look I'll turn around if you care that much."

I looked down slightly embarrassed. "Well…I might not be able to get into the tub on my own."

Quistis chuckled softly. "Tell ya what. I'll help you in the tub now and just take your clothes off when you're in."

"What about when I get out?"

Quistis thought for a moment. "Well…we'll figure that out later. I'll probably just throw a towel at you."

I chuckled slightly just loving interaction with people again. Everyday conversations I swear I will never take for granted again.

So Quistis helped me into the tub and I hissed through my teeth when the water hit all my cuts and bruises. Especially my wrists since they were basically rope burns and those always sting a lot in water. My clothes of course stuck to me, which also hurt, but I slowly peeled them off. Quistis took them and threw them in a basket.

I let myself soak with the water up to my chin. It felt glorious. Sure some of my cuts were stinging but it was heaven. Quistis sat on the toilet and just watched me. It wasn't in a creepy way, just keeping an eye out for me.

"So why did they go with Squall?" I asked mainly to keep myself occupied so my thoughts wouldn't wander.

"Well Squall knew you didn't want Seifer or Zell around and Irvine just thinks you hate him for killing your father."

I chuckled causing some water to come into my mouth. I let it dribble down my chin spitting it back out. "Irvine is like one of the people I don't hate."

"Yeah but he still feels bad." Quistis tapped her fingers together looking like she was thinking something over. "Rinoa I know you are mad, but please try to understand. Zell and Seifer had to do this and they didn't enjoy it."

"Right." I growled.

Quistis sighed and sat back, I guess she was giving up for now. "Any other questions?"

"Who is the leader?" I asked. It was plaguing my mind for a while actually. I felt like it might be Squall but then again Seifer seemed to have that dominance aura about him. I figured he wouldn't let anyone else be in charge. Then there was also Quistis who seemed to be the planner and technology expert I guess.

"Squall."

I glanced at her. "That quick."

"That quick," she repeated.

"No one has qualms about that?"

Quistis smiled. "Rinoa you will understand soon enough."

"So I have to deal with him a lot?" I asked hopefully.

Quistis nodded and I groaned.

She leaned closer and looked at me seriously. "Rinoa I know right now you hate a lot of people here. But I can promise you all of them are good honest people. I know Squall, he will look out for you right away. He has already. Always at the door even if you didn't know it. He won't let anything happen to you."

"Doesn't matter," I pouted. "Still hate his guts."

"That won't last long," Quistis sat back all smug.

"Oh you think?" I turned to her.

"Like you don't think he's the hottest thing on two legs you've seen."

Did she really just say that? The nice calm motherly mature Quistis. Just refer to Squall – her leader – as hot. That just doesn't seem like her, then again I have to remember I don't know her at all and I'm just making judgments.

"Admit it." She folded her arms professionally. "Everyone who sees Squall thinks he's gorgeous."

"I've seen better." I mumbled just in annoyance that she was completely right.

Quistis chuckled. "You have huh? I'll let you in on a tiny secret here. Squall is free…take him."

I looked away angrily. "You think I'm that shallow to just want a guy based off looks. I care for their personality and he has a terrible one."

Quistis waved the comment off. "He's just too smart for his own good."

That was an interesting thought. "I figured you were the smartest here."

She shook her head chuckling again. "Oh God no. I can do wonders with a computer but that's it. Squall you'll see doesn't have a single fault."

"Not one?" I find that hard to believe.

Quistis titled her head thinking. "Well only one I guess he gets a little too involved sometimes. But that's rare."

I wasn't even quite sure what that meant. I was more worried about why Quistis cared so much what I thought about Squall.

"Do you like Squall?"

Quistis looked at me quizzically. "As in love him?"

I nodded.

"Nope I'm with Seifer, only God knows why though."

I giggled hearing that. "He's a jackass."

Quistis nodded closing her eyes. "Yes he is."

"What about the others?"

Quistis straightened herself a bit and crossed a leg over the other. She did it extremely gracefully which I found impressive especially since she was on a toilet, one of the least graceful things in the world.

"Zell is a good guy, honest heart and just likes to have fun. A little wild and hyper but he comes in when it counts. Selphie is even more hyper but it's because her life has been so hard. She keeps a positive attitude. She brightens a room up the second she walks in. Irvine is a flirt, but he would never cheat on Selphie."

"He's with Selphie?"

Quistis nodded. "I swear those two are gonna get married as soon as Irvine doesn't faint from the word."

I laughed into the water. Quistis had her funny moments it seemed.

"He is kind hearted and I have actually found myself being comforted by him before. So even if he is a flirt he really knows what to say at the right time. Irvine is very caring. Seifer is well a…" she paused and thought for a moment. "He is a dick, a jackass, a little fucker, a smartass, cocky as the devil himself, and an asshole all rolled up in one sexy hot body." I made a disgusted face joking with her. Because even I had to admit Seifer was more than simply _attractive."_

Quistis smiled knowing I was joking. "But he is also extremely noble and knows what life is really like. He's been through a lot and because of it he is tough and experienced. Yet he can be really gentle. I've seen him wait with a little girl for over an hour because she lost her parents. He has that tough guy big brother feel, where he is a jackass until you need him. Then he will be there for you in a second."

I thought about that. I remember being in the car and Seifer diving on me. He was so rough outside but as soon as my life was in danger he did everything he could to protect me. He has been bothering me and teasing me. But when I was about to crack he left making sure I didn't lose. He really was looking out for me, he just does seem to have a tough guy act.

"Well how about we get you out of the tub."

I nodded and we went about figuring it out. In the end we decided she had to help me and there was no other way. But it wasn't as awkward as I thought with her being so mature. So she let me to my room just in a towel. She told me it would be too hard to get in clothes and I would just be in my bed for the next couple days.

My room was right next to the bathroom. Quistis pushed open the door and she helped me hobble in. There were a couple candles in here too. They really were making sure I didn't have to strain my eyes at all. My room was empty as of now. Just a dresser and my clothes filled suitcase standing next to it. The simple bed was pushed into the corner right underneath two windows. One at the head and one at the side.

Quistis lead me over and as I got closer I saw outside the window. I couldn't really stop the small gasp that escaped my mouth. The window was a view of the ocean. It was starry outside and the sea was black giving off an illusion of an endless pit. Like nothing was there except emptiness.

Quistis pulled back the sheets and I slid underneath. She tucked me in like any mom of a child. It was so warm and comfortable I felt my eyes shutting instantly.

"Rinoa you are just gonna have to stay in bed for a while. There is a radio next to you. Just use it and I'll have the other one."

"What a fucking baby monitor?" I grimaced.

Quistis chuckled. "It's a radio okay."

Quistis stepped away from the bed and blew out the candles. "Don't worry about bothering me. I'll come as soon as you need me."

"Okay." Quistis turned around and reached the door. "uh Quistis?"

"Yes?" She asked smiling turning back to me.

"Uh thank you for everything," I said seriously. "I really mean it. You've been great."

"You're welcome…now get some sleep." She stepped out the door and shut it leaving me to my lonesome again.

Although this time it wasn't in a scary torturing way. It was peaceful. There were windows so I didn't feel trapped. I knew Quistis would make good on her promise and come if I needed her. But even with those thoughts, what was really calming was the ocean. I could hear the soft roar far below me. It didn't sound like anything but a mumble. Yet it was enough for me to feel at peace.

And to that I fell asleep. I thought for once I would be able to get an actual good deep sleep. But I didn't, far from it even. I still had nightmares and my soreness came back. When I was talking with Quistis my mind was occupied. I couldn't really think about it and lying in a bed helped a lot. But still my mind was cranking even though I hoped it would've stopped.

I still was thinking about my mom and I still felt extremely sad about that. I hate Squall for that. So when I looked around the room and saw him in the doorway you could imagine my feelings.

"What the fuck do you want?" I growled.

"I came to talk." His voice was so calm and gentle. Goddamn it even sounded sexy. His smooth voice cutting across my room. But I didn't want to think those thoughts.

"You've said enough," I managed to keep myself mad. I really only had to think about my mom to get pissed. "I guess I should thank you. I fully accept what I did to my mom."

"Oh you do?"

I forced myself to sit up and winced in the progress but I had to face him. "What you gonna say it isn't my fault now? That you were just lying to make me crazy?"

He leaned against the doorframe crossing his arms. His face never changed from calm and cool. Yet it was serious and understanding. "It doesn't matter honestly. I don't care if you do blame yourself for killing her or not. It's about making peace about it."

I squinted my eyes not sure what he meant.

"You can blame yourself if you want. Yes technically you caused your mom to be there. But also the other driver hit you guys. He shouldn't have down that. It's the same as what happened to me. I watched my sister get taken from me. I didn't take her, but I couldn't stop the men who did. Is it my fault?"

"…Is it?"

Squall shrugged. "I blame myself even though I also still blame those men that did. But I blame both and I learn to deal with it. So don't think everything is your fault and everyone hates you. It isn't true. You took a part in the accident but it wasn't all you. And you didn't mean to cause harm."

"What you're saying since I didn't mean to I can't be in trouble?"

He nodded. "If you fully knew going that night would kill your mom then you would be a murderer. But you had no idea, you had no clue. So even if you did _help _cause it…it's not your fault."

I gripped the sheets thinking over what he just said. He didn't take back his accusation that I killed my mom. He simply just made it so it wasn't completely my fault and I didn't mean to. Of course I didn't want my mom to die, but hearing someone else say it made me feel that much better.

"So you think…" I kinda trailed off not sure why I was bothering.

"What?" His voice was gentle and wasn't pressing in the least.

"So I won't go to hell for this," I know it was kinda a dumb question. People think you're weird when you think about hell. They say you're wasting your life worrying about it. But that has been plaguing my mind for many years. I was always self-conscious to ask it afraid how others would react. But I felt like Squall wouldn't judge me and I also knew he would have an answer. He is after all a Saint.

He didn't laugh or chuckle, but took me completely serious. "No…there isn't a chance you are going to hell."

"But I killed my mom," I pressed.

"With more ignorance comes less responsibility." Don't ask me where he pulls these random phrases from. "If you don't know what you're doing, you cannot take the responsibility for those actions. You didn't know your mom was going to die. You can take no responsibility for that."

"So no hell?"

He smiled gently. "It's actually a lot harder to go to hell then you think."

"Well that's good."

There was an awkward pause for a moment as he just stared at me. I kept my eyes downcast at my covers.

"Get some rest." He told me as he turned to leave.

"I'm still mad at you," I said quietly almost like I wasn't sure of myself.

At this he chuckled. "I would hope you aren't that forgiving."

I smiled slightly.

"Now get some rest, and I'll check on you in the morning. And Rinoa…welcome to the family."

With that he shut the door and left me all alone once again. Although this time I did fell asleep slowly and peacefully. The hard part was over. I made it. I was going to become part of their team. A Divine Protector. A Watchmen. A Guardian. _A Saint.

* * *

  
_

**Okay so that's chapter seven. Be a good person leave a review. Complain about something, I can think of a few things to say.**

**Oh and I'm going away to a ski resort next week. So if you try and contact me or something, give me a week to get back to you. Just telling ya. Hell this week goes anything how I suspect, I'll probably have another whole fic to write. **


	8. Tour

**November 24**

**Rinoa's POV**

So it has been a week since I've gotten out of that crazy room. I've stayed in bed for the whole week. They would bring me food and keep me company. It only made me feel like some kind of animal. I didn't feel like a real person just lying in bed all-day and getting fed. They brought a TV in for me to watch which helped a little. But my mind was slowly turning to mush from so much TV so I refused to watch it.

The only good thing about this was all the time it gave me to think. Think about what I thought about everyone. Zell seemed like a fun person to be with. He was always smiling, joking, and laughing. Irvine was definitely a flirt, without a doubt in my mind. But I know he is a good person, especially because he talked to me for like a whole hour about how sorry he was for killing my father. Which I didn't blame him in anyway, but now we have that out of the way, so it isn't awkward or anything.

Seifer is an asshole most of the time, but he has his serious moments. We've had a couple talks where he actually listens and answers my questions. Then there are other times when every time I say one thing, he has a remark that makes me feel like an idiot. So I still don't know about him.

Selphie and Quistis are both great. One is always kidding and hyper, while the other is usually solemn and calm. But they both gave me a lot of company and I really enjoyed it too. I see myself heading for some great times with those two.

Does that mean I forgave everyone already? Not quite. Zell and Seifer are slowly getting off my dark side. Really it was just a matter of healing and feeling better. Like when someone accidentally elbows you in the face. You get pissed at them for a while but you get over it when your face doesn't hurt anymore. This is a little more to the extreme but I like to think it's the same concept. So I was still slightly mad at them, but nothing to really blatantly show.

Squall on the other hand. He was complicated definitely. He did help me get over my mother; there was no doubt in that. I felt better than I had in ages. She was always on my mind, even if just a little bit. He helped me confront that issue and finally solve it. Even if it wasn't the greatest answer, it was the truth. That I took part in my mom's death but I in no way planned it and everyday regret it. Which meant I really did care she was gone, and it wasn't superficial.

On the other hand. That pain he caused me was still slightly there. That and he never visited me this whole week. Except the first night I got out, I haven't talked to him since. Is he avoiding me? If he is…why? I mean he couldn't be busy the whole time right? Whatever, if he wants to be a big meanie then that's what he'll be.

The other problem was I still didn't really know what was going on. I knew I was on the Saints' team. They told me that a lot as if it was a big deal and you know what…_it was_. I just didn't feel like I was on the team really. Sitting in this room and stuff. I wasn't even sure what the rest of the house looked like.

Well today was the day. I was going to make them take me around the place. I don't care if they have to carry me.

The door opened and I sat up. Quistis walked in. Before I could open my mouth to make my demands I saw Selphie roll a wheel chair in after her.

"How about a tour?" Quistis smiled at me.

"Finally!" I collapsed back on the bed not caring that it hurt slightly. "I need to get out of this room.

They helped me into the wheel chair. Don't get me wrong, a week in bed heals a lot. I felt a lot better and I could stomach _actual_ food again. But my toes were still broken and those would take some more time. I guess I won't really be walking on them for another couple weeks. Which really sucks cause I can't start my training until then.

Then again…maybe that was a good thing. They told me they were going to work me really hard so although I'm looking forward to it. I'm slightly scared. This isn't training for some sport. This is training to kill. I know they are gonna make me do things that will be really hard but I'll just have to pull through.

Selphie was pushing me and we followed Quistis out the door. I already knew the bathroom was just to my right. We went up the hall a little and took the first door on our right. I rolled into a…gym?

Oh my god. What do my eyes see, three extremely hot guys working out. Please say they are gonna wrestle soon.

To the right was an empty space with a padded floor. There was a hanging punching bag getting its ass kicked by Zell. The blonde was shirtless and had some long black shorts on. His hands were bandaged up with white tape it seemed. I don't need to mention all the muscles that would tighten every punch. The tiny sweat droplets that would run down over his ridged chest. The flip his hair would do every time he moved. The gleam in his eyes when he hit the bag and the smirk that would slowly spread on his boyish face.

He was sending endless punches at the bag dipping and weaving after a combination. Always bouncing on his feet and his eyes ever fixed on the bag. Every now and then he would throw a kick and they were impressive to say the least. Many of them were high where an average person's head would be. Also when he kicked the bag, it swung. Not just a little, a lot. I don't know much about punching bags weighs but I know they are heavy and to move one as much as he did. Those were extremely powerful kicks.

To my left was the other blonde. Seifer was doing squats with an amazing amount of weights on the bar. If I knew how to count them I would say, sadly I don't. I just know it was impressive. He would growl slightly every time he brought the weights up on his shoulder. He was wearing a white beater and it was sticking to him from the sweat he accumulated during his workout. A gross thought or a sexy thought. Depends on the girl.

He saw us and did one last squat before waddling backwards placing the bar back on the rack be was standing in front of. He smiled at all of us before turning his head to the left.

And there was Squall. He was sitting on an elevated seat. He had his feet hooked into the bottom of the seat. He would lean backwards until he was upside down. Then he would pull himself back upwards without any hands. This worked the abs.

Hey I know some workouts. Girls gotta stay in shape someway.

But when he crunched his stomach, I literally lost all my sense. His abs were practically ripping against his skin. Like there was no way they were staying in that body. My mouth was almost completely open and I didn't care. I think some drool might've fallen out as well. If I don't jump this man I'm going to be a nun. I could just seem myself on top of him. My hands feeling him all over and running my tounge-

"Rinoa!"

"What!" I nearly jumped out of my chair.

Squall hearing my name stayed upside down. He looked serious (didn't he always) and put his hands on the ground. Letting his feet slip he went into a handstand before gracefully planting his feet on the ground. He stood straight up and if his stomach wasn't enough to turn me on then his eyes completed the task. The cool ceruleans were looking at me…_me._

Damn why didn't I take a bath this morning. At least wash my hair or something. I must look disgusting and I only lay in bed. He manages to do a crazy workout and only look better. That's like not even fair. It's cheating for some guy to have that perfect of a body. He could get anyone, and I honestly mean that. How is he not some famous model or actor? All he has to do is walk around without his shirt off. I bet even straight guys would turn gay for him.

"So you finally moving around?" Squall asked in what must've been the perfect voice I've ever heard. Another plus seemed to have.

"Not in the best fashion." I tapped the chair.

"Well that's good." He smiled at me and I made sure not to slip out of the chair.

Wait I'm mad at him. I can't let his drop dead sexy body get me distracted. You've dealt with his kind before. They know they're sexy and they take full advantage of it. Just keep your wits about you.

Who are you kidding Rin, he's the best guy you've ever seen in your life.

"Rinoa?"

"Huh?" I looked back up at Squall. I kept zoning.

"That's it," Selphie exclaimed behind me. "Would you guys put some shirts on so Rinoa can keep her head straight."

Oh god that's not helping Selphie. "No really-"

"Hey Rinoa's gonna have to get use to living with us three," Seifer shrugged.

"Not like this," Quistis stepped out in front of me and began pushing the three away from me. "You guys never work out like this. You knew we were taking Rinoa on a tour today and wanted to show off."

"Show off what?" I heard from behind me.

We all turned around to see Irvine walk in with just boxers on and his cowboy duster. His hair was untied and was handing on his shoulders slightly.

The other three boys went into a fit of laughter as I stared at Irvine's chest now. Which needless to say, was also perfect. He was tall too so they were nice and stretched out. Yum.

Oh god what's wrong with me.

"Like you don't know," Selphie put her hands on her hip before marching over to the cowboy and grabbing his duster by its edges. "Keep this together." She told him pulling it across his chest.

"To be fair, Irvine always does that no matter what," Zell pointed out.

"Except he usually wears pants," Quistis added.

"Oh that's true," Zell agreed.

"Really," Selphie frowned, "Guess I just don't notice."

Squall laughed at it all, does this mean he can have a sense of humor? He turned around and grabbed a shirt. He put it on and I made a mental picture of his stomach burned into my brain so I wouldn't forget. Hopefully they do this all the time.

"Yeah Rinoa we're just kidding we don't do this that much," Squall explained.

Damn. Then again maybe they do it more than they realize. I once had a boyfriend who wouldn't realize I was in the room and would take his shirt off just too relax. Then again he didn't compare to any of these three, well four now.

Man what do the Saints do normally. What if they have orgies? I'd definitely be okay with that. Four guys all at once. I wouldn't know what to do.

"She doesn't seem to enthusiastic with the idea." Seifer said bringing me back to the real world and not my crazy fantasies, which I swear I never had until I came in this room.

"Enthusiastic about what?" I asked.

"Learning how to shoot." Zell answered.

I knew the smile on my face almost reached my ears. Should I be this happy to learn how to shoot a gun? You damn betcha. I was waiting since day one to learn this. Not everyone can shoot a gun, it puts me in a group of people. Maybe a large group, but still a group. Of course then my mind wandered to me being extremely good at it. I know each one of them are pretty good.

I wanna get that good. I wanna be on their level. I wanna be an equal among them. Because that is a dream of many and could be a reality of one…me.

"What about a tour though?" I pouted.

"Oh right we haven't done that yet," Quistis said walking back to my chair. "We'll give her a quick one then get to work on the first part of her training."

"Sounds good," Squall agreed.

He acts like he's talked with me all this week. These are the first words from him I've heard in days. How can he just act like nothing is happening?

'Cause nothing is happening, that's why. I don't know why I'm freaking out about this. I never asked to talk to Squall. He wasn't obligated to come into my room and talk for a bit. He probably just figured he didn't have to. Maybe I'm just looking into it way too much. I probably am, I have a tendency to do that.

Anyway the tour began. I was in the front and everyone was following me. Even though it was kind of nice to be pushed around, I really wanted to walk on my own. Being stuck in a chair is terrible and I hated it. I mean I can kinda walk. I just have to keep my toes in the air so and walk really, really slowly. But I can do it.

We walked just a bit more and in the same hallway there was a door to the left. They opened it and pushed me in.

"This is the office," Quistis seemed to be the designated tour guide. "This is usually where I am doing all my work."

I scanned the room over with my eyes. It was fairly long and had a couple of windows. There was only a couple seats. Two around a small table towards the end of the room and then one at a desk right across from the door. A desk with a three – count 'em three – computers. One flat screen was elevated over another flat screen. With a strategically placed laptop to the right of those two. One keyboard sat in front of the flat screen on the desk and I could see where another one would slide out from underneath the desk.

"Why do you need three?" I asked. It wasn't set up so three people could use them at one time. They were all angled to the one seat.

"Well one computer can never handle everything that needs to be done all at once," Quistis answered seriously.

"Wow. I'm impressed." I admitted.

"Just wait 'till you see here actually type on those things." Zell told me as he typed on an invisible keyboard to display what he meant.

"This is where Quistis is usually directing us on our jobs." Squall explained to me.

"Can you like hack into security cameras and stuff," I asked the tall blonde.

Quistis waved her hand as if it was nothing. "I can get into anything, anywhere."

"So that's why you guys always stay one step ahead of the police and stuff."

"Well…" Quistis titled her head back and forth. "That is more Squall just predicting them. Police are very predictable."

"No Quistis is a great help," Squall argued not letting himself receive credit.

Well he's modest, another reason why he could be considered perfect. To bad he's still an asshole to me. I mean even right now everyone is talking a little. He just is keeping to himself right now and only talks when he deems necessary.

"Anyways onto the rest of the house." Seifer announced walking back out the door.

We all trotted behind him…well I rolled. And we continued on the tour. We hit the corner and turned right. The first door on the left was Zell's room. Leaving him some privacy we didn't go into it. We were almost at the living room with one last door on the left. This was Squall's and once again he didn't go in it.

Then there was the living room. The whole left side of the house was all window walls. They stopped at the counter, which cut off the living room and the kitchen. There was one small coffee table towards the left of the living room. A couch was between it and the kitchen facing the TV that was placed against the wall that shared Squall's room. Two arm plush chairs were on the ends of the coffee table slightly angled at the TV.

We walked towards the kitchen. It was a quaint little area. There were counters and cupboards like any other kitchen. Some small rectangular window was above the sink and there was a table with six chairs around it.

"We'll add another soon don't worry," Selphie told me happily patting my shoulder.

I smiled at her as I was pushed to go down the other hallway. This one I never saw any of it yet. It was across from the kitchen and it resembled the other hallway a lot. The first door on the left was Seifer's room. A door across from it was apparently Irvine and Selphie's.

"They use to be two separate rooms but then Selphie started sleeping in Irvine's room every night. So eventually he knocked down the wall between them so they have one large room." Quistis explained.

Then the last door on the left was Quistis. Apparently Seifer and Quistis get in fights every now and then so they don't want to combine like Selphie and Irvine.

Then there was one more door at the very end of the hallway. Zell opened it for me and bowed ushering me in with his arm. He obviously liked to play around a lot. Quistis rolled me in and I let out a small gasp.

It was a bathroom, but a very extravagant and ornate one. It was long probably about half the length of the house. It was skinny though only about two yards from wall to wall. It had windows facing the ocean and they were open so you the salty breeze filled the room. The walls were a deep blue and all tiled. There were two bathtubs at either end. Wait scratch that…one was a flood tub. Where it is a larger rectangular tub inside an even bigger tub. So the first one can overflow and the second one makes sure nothing gets on the floor.

This is where the baby making happens people.

"This is amazing," I say still astonished that they would have a bathroom like this.

"It's over the top," Seifer said.

"Sure is," Zell agreed.

"It's the best part of the apartment," Selphie whispered in my ear.

The obvious difference between girls and guys is evident here.

"Well alright," Irvine clapped his hands. "She's seen the house, how about we teach her to shoot."

Selphie laughed. "Irvine has been waiting all week for this."

"So have I." I laughed along.

So we all went to the basement. Of course we all didn't take the elevator at once. All the girls and Irvine took it the first trip. No one really said anything on the ride down. It wasn't awkward or anything. It was somewhat peaceful, that they had this extreme friendship will all of each other so they didn't always have to talk.

We reached the bottom and the doors slid open revealing the shooting range once again. Irvine took the lead and flipped the lights on. The white florescent lights lit up one after another like a wave effect going down the long range. He lead us over to a door to the right. He put his hand on the pad and then typed the code while his hand was on the pad.

"We don't want anyone getting in here," Irvine explained stepping into the room and disappearing.

"I designed the system so it's foolproof." Quistis told me as we waited outside. "Most who try to break won't have their hand on the screen and type at the same time. That is strange and unusual."

"Yeah and the code number is like ten digits long," Selphie held out her hands in frustration as she walked past me.

"Most people can remember a seven digit number," Quistis explained with a sign in her voice which gave me the indication she explained this many times before. "By adding another three someone who just reads the code and tries to remember it will have a much harder time. But to actually take some time and learn those three extra numbers it isn't hard at all."

That makes sense to me. "Has anyone ever tried to sneak in here?" I asked wondering why all the security.

"No," Quistis answered me. "But we never take things lightly, it's why we are never caught. Also some little kids could sneak in here and just try it. That is the last thing we need."

Irvine walked out of the room caring a small rectangular box and a handgun. At the same time I heard the elevator open again and everyone else walk out. Irvine hopped over long counter that a person would obviously stand behind. Only problem I was sitting and the counter was too tall.

I underestimated them again of course. Before I knew it, Zell and Seifer picked me up, chair and all. They carried me over to the counter and set me on it. Squall hopped over the counter and with Irvine's help, slowly put me on the ground on the other side.

Someone tossed a chair to Irvine, wasn't sure who. He caught it and sat in it right next to me. He gave the box to me and I took it carefully. I could hear what I figured were bullets sliding and rolling around. I reminded me of getting some marbles and hearing them roll around in a box.

Is it bad I compare a child's toy to bullets?

"Alright," Irvine announced calling me back to him. He rested the gun in his two palms displaying it to me. "This is the standard 9mm handgun."

"9mm?" I asked staring at the shiny black object.

"Bullet size," He explained. "Not too important. Most who shoot a gun don't know shit about it. And to shoot one you don't need to know shit. But to be good and excel at shooting, you better know everything. But for now, it's like a camera. Point and shoot."

"Uh right," I said reaching for the gun."

He pulled it away. "Uh uh, not yet."

I pouted slightly.

He smiled. "You need to know a couple things first."

"Irvine."

I turned around as well as Irvine to look at Squall. He was leaning on the counter with his arms crossed. "Give her the gun and ammo."

His voice was serious. What a prick, can he ever let me just have fun. Why does he make everything seem like a test? He could at least not talk to Irvine like that. He was at least a little nicer upstairs. I guess he gets all business when it comes to stuff like this.

"Alright," Irvine said unsure. He handed over the gun and the box of ammo.

I set the box on my lap and held the gun loosely in my hands. I readjusted it in my hands a bit. It didn't feel right. I felt like an idiot holding it. But I wasn't going to let Squall see that. So I held it how I also see people holding it. With two hands on it. I wasn't going to be dumb and do that tilting shit. Even I know that's not right.

I held it out in front of me and looked in the sights. There was a large white paper hanging at the far end with a black body shape on it. The standard shooting target I imagine.

"You gotta-"

"Irvine."

Squall cut him off again. Talk about rude.

I glanced over my shoulder to see him intensely staring at me. I looked at Irvine who just shrugged to me. I rested the gun again and looked at it. Obviously there was something I had to do to it. I looked on the side and found the safety. It was off…so that wasn't it.

Oh ammo!

I found the little button to release the clip. It slid out smooth into my other hand. I looked at the clip and it was empty. I glanced over my shoulder triumphantly at Squall who didn't even respond to it.

I began loading the clip with bullets from the box. One after another they all went in easy. When it was filled I pushed it back in the handle and pulled the top back. Then I took aim once again with two hands and was finally ready to fire. I closed my eye and lined it up with the target's head.

"Stop."

God dammit I was gonna kill that man.

"What now." I spat at Squall.

"Why did you just do that?" He asked me pushing away from the counter and coming back towards me.

"Uh you have to load a gun to shoot it."

"But why'd you pull the top back," His hands did the action on an invisible gun.

"…" He got me on that one. "It's what you do." I said after a while.

"It's what you do," He repeated. "From TV?"

"Well yeah I guess. It's the only place I've seen guns besides when you people came into my life."

"You're welcome," Seifer called out from behind me.

"Rinoa I want to make this perfectly clear," Squall's eyes made contact with mine and I knew he was being dead serious. "This is real life, this isn't television. Do not copy what you see on that. It isn't real, it will get you killed. So from now on think and explain within reason why you do everything."

"Alright alright," I replied hotly. "You gotta be such a meanie about it."

Squall made a confused face. He looked over to the people behind me. "Am I being mean?"

Zell pinched his fingers close together. "Just a bit."

Squall shrugged. "Guess you're gonna have to get use to it."

"No kidding," I rolled my eyes.

"Well anyways, Irvine take it away," Squall said walking back behind me. "I think I've made my point."

"Okay," Irvine scooted the chair closer to me. "Everything you did was right. The point of pulling the top part back, was to put a bullet in the _chamber_. Which is the tube that the bullet will shoot out of."

"Right."

"So every time the slide – the top part – is pulled back. It takes a bullet from the clip and puts it in the chamber. With automatic pistols that will be done after each shot. So to get the first bullet in the chamber, you usually do it manually. Which is what you did, I'm just explaining why you did it."

"In a nice way to," I commented.

He chuckled, "Alright try a shot."

"Shouldn't I have ear covers or something?"

"We want you to actually hear the shot so you won't freak out later," Squall so kindly explained to me.

"You'd like that wouldn't you," I mumbled as I took aim once again.

"Alright now some like to have one eye closed, and some like to have both open. What do you prefer?" His voice was quiet, making sure I wouldn't lose concentration.

"One eye open," I replied quietly back.

"Alright well do you know what eye dominance you are?"

"Uh what?"

"Never mind we'll do that later," He replied back. "Now you probably know how to line up your shot."

"That little bump at the end?"

"Yup…now just breath slowly. Keep that one bump right where you want it to go."

"It's hard."

It was. With my arms fully extended they shook slightly. I was trying my best to keep it right on the target's head.

"I know but just time it then. Wait for it to be right near the bump. This is your first shot Rinoa, we aren't expecting you to get a bull's-eye."

"Glad I got your support," I gritted my teeth and really concentrated on the target. I would prove them all wrong. I would prove Squall wrong. I would get a perfect shot and they would have to admit I had some skill.

I squeezed the trigger and the loud bang rang out and echoed around. It hurt but I was expecting it so it wasn't that bad. I almost lost my hold of the gun when it recoiled. Not that it was so strong, just simply surprise kinda. I knew it would happen but just not that much. Sadly I didn't see a hole in the paper either. Which meant I completely missed the paper.

"Take a couple more," Irvine told me. "We have plenty of ammo. And while you are in that chair you might as well get use to shooting."

And so I did. I took many shots actually, had to get another box and I even managed to hit the paper once or twice. What they didn't tell me until I was done, was that the paper was the furthest distance away. And that normally a person wouldn't even take that shot with a handgun. They just let me believe I was sucking the whole time.

They are a bunch of assholes.

Well after that was all done we went back upstairs. I guess that was my fun for the day. Like a dog they let me out and now they are putting me back. I was just gonna have to sit in bed again. This totally sucked.

"Hey Rinoa."

"Yeah Quistis?" I answered earnestly hoping she would say let's do something.

"I got some research to do, want to help me?" She asked nicely.

Yes!

"I'd love that, thanks Quistis." I smiled back to her.

We reached the top and Quistis pushed me back into their apartment. When I entered for once it didn't feel so strange. I actually knew the layout now and although it wasn't quite home. It was getting closer.

Only Selphie and Zell came back up with us. The other three guys decided to stay down and do some shooting. Selphie just plopped on the couch and was going to watch some TV. Zell told us he was going to work out some more. Work on his concentration or something.

We entered the office and she settled me right next to her chair. She sat down and turned on all three monitors.

"Hey I know you are just being nice," I told her, "I won't get in your way."

Quistis looked at me quizzically for a second before laughing. "Rinoa if I can get work done with Zell in the room I'm sure there isn't anything you can do to hinder my work."

"Well that makes me feel better."

"Okay," Quistis typed on the keyboard going to the lower middle computer, which will hereby be considered the main computer.

Soon a scanned copy of the journal page popped up on the screen. There were highlights and some little annotations that Quistis did on the computer. It was a pretty cool system actually. Instead of ruining the actual page. By scanning it they could do electric notes on it and the whatnot.

"So we haven't really figured anything too much from this," Quistis told me as she got an internet server going on the laptop.

"Sorry," I felt like I had to apologize for only getting them a page.

Quistis shrugged, "It would've been nice to get the whole thing but we can understand you didn't press your luck. Another reason you caught interest with us. You know the limit of risk you should take."

"So I was being analyzed like this a lot," I asked feeling important.

"No, the main reason we took you in was because you wouldn't be safe otherwise."

"Oh…" My hopes sank.

Quistis quickly turned the chair to face me, "Oh Rinoa don't get me wrong we want you here. If we just wanted you safe we would send you away to some country or contact the police. We do need you Rinoa, don't think you are here for charity."

I smiled meekly. "Alright."

Quistis sighed, "I'm sorry, don't listen to me sometimes I get ahead of myself. But you have to believe me that we do want you here. Everyone does."

"Yeah Squall's ecstatic."

"He's just mad cause he doesn't want you even out of bed yet," Quistis told me turning back to the computer.

"Why not?"

"He's actually very worried about you." Quistis pulled out a pen and a pad of paper. The paper already had stuff written on it. So I guess she did take some notes freehand. She stuck the pen in her mouth when she was done.

"Why is he worried about me?" My eyes subconsciously glanced out at the ocean. It wasn't a direct shot at it like my room. But you could see the shoreline out in the distance.

"He thinks you should be broken in more slowly." Quistis answered me with the pen hanging at the side of her mouth as she typed.

"Well they sure did _break_ me in pretty quickly I thought."

Quistis laughed slightly, "Rinoa don't ever lose that personality."

"No problem."

"So you find anything?"

"Well…maybe." She typed a little bit so some letters were highlighted and enlarged. "J.R. It most likely is initials for someone. Also…" a little more typing and a different sentence was highlighted.

"Contact Asset at Deling Square November 16th." Quistis read out loud.

"Asset?"

"An asset is basically an assassin," Quistis explained. "We believe your father used this man – J.R. we believe – whenever he had to knock someone off or do some dirty work."

"So do we know what J.R stands for?"

"No clue, for all we know his real name could be Roger. It depends on the asset. If he is a very skilled person, he wouldn't use his own initials. But if he is just a man who got lucky in Caraway's eyes. Then maybe he would. We don't know enough now."

"So now what?" You know this was slightly exciting. Trying to figure all this out.

"Well you aren't just here to keep me company. We are going to go through pictures of your father with different men. If you see someone you don't know in the least, then he might be the guy."

"Hate to say it, but my father was very secretive, there might be quite a bit of people I won't know."

"The asset will most likely be younger though. I can't see your father being with that many young men."

"Can you not call him my father?" I rubbed my hands together sheepishly.

Quistis stopped typing and gave me a little look. "Don't want to be related to him huh?"

I shook my head.

Quistis smiled, "You fit in perfectly here."

"What do you mean?"

Quistis went back to typing and writing random things down. I don't know how she multitasked so easily. "Everyone here doesn't have parents, and if they do. They hate them."

"Everyone?"

"Everyone."

"So…"

"I was a mistake," Quistis obviously knew where I was going. "My parents never wanted me, throughout my childhood I was raised by nanny's. They were fairly rich so hey paid for anything I needed but I never got their love. You know what I mean I'm sure."

And I did exactly. When my mother died my father didn't have anything to do with me. It doesn't sound bad, but it's awful. It's so horrible how hard you try to get their praise.

"Hey you don't have to talk about it." I told her seriously. I didn't want to pry into her life.

Quistis smiled at me. "Don't worry I'm lucky compared to the others here. I don't take anything for granted."

I smiled back.

"Anyways just for sheer hope I typed Caraway and J.R. in the search bar." Quistis told me.

"Well that probably won't really get anything."

"Nope but I always try." Quistis laughed, "God knows the one time it works I won't have to search for hours."

"Shouldn't you use something else besides Google too? I mean my professors always told me to use databases and the like." I suggested hoping I wasn't crossing any lines.

"Rinoa we're not writing a paper, the only database we might use is one for newspapers, which we can get on a mainstream search anyways. Don't always listen to your teachers, you may get the wrong kind that refuses to change their ways even if they're wrong."

"Good to know." I paused as I thought a moment. "I'm not going back to college am I?"

Quistis laughed again and shook her head. "No probably not. Then again you don't need to go to school and get an education. You can learn everything from just being with us and you will easily get more life skills as well."

"What about money?"

"Let's just say we have enough to put ten people through college without taking a dent to our funds."

"Sounds like the better deal." I was breathless. That was _a lot_ of money. Maybe even more than my father had. Is that possible?

Quistis gave me a quick look. "Oh it is, believe me."

Quistis continued her little search online doing various well-picked words hoping to get something good. While she did that I quietly watched and scanned through as many names in my head as I could.

I tried to think if there was anyone with the name that would have J.R as the initials. Then again as Quistis told me earlier, if the man were good he wouldn't just use his initials. But still I rifled through all the names that might have come up before. There were many people always dropping by the house. My dad always introduced me if I happened to walk by. It was good nature, he had to look professional, and I always responded like the perfect little daughter princess I was.

I look down at my hands as they feel each other slowly. My thoughts were flying now and for some reason I knew I knew this. It was right there, almost out.

"James Reynolds…" It came out as a whisper. A quietly little slip out of my mouth. I didn't even know I said it until I heard it myself. My mind just knew what I needed and gave it to me. The name rolled off my tongue so nicely I knew it was the name.

"What?" Quistis turned to me.

"James Reynolds." I look up at her. "That's the guy…I know it. I don't ever remember meeting him. But I remember my father screaming on the phone one time. He didn't say a name until he was really mad. Then he shouted _James Reynolds_ and I remembered it was strange because I never heard that name before."

"Well Rinoa you might've just figured this out."

"Awesome, glad I could help," I said cheerfully.

Even though we had a name, which I have to say might not even be right, although I was ninety-nine percent sure it was. Of course typing in James Reynolds and General Caraway didn't get this picture of my dad and the asset sitting down and having tea. It didn't get shit. That's what it got.

So what did we do? Quistis typed in stuff like 'Caraway in the park' and 'Caraway taking a stroll'. We looked to see if he made contact with anyone. And you know, there were a lot of pictures of him. I really didn't know he was that famous. I mean I knew, but well, it's a little weird to see your father with his own sites and stuff.

After almost an hour we finally made some progress.

"Hey look here," Quistis suddenly said drawing my attention to the main computer. It was my father walking in the park. It was actually a series of shots. It was a site that belonged to a reporter and he took as many pictures as he could of the general as he walked. There were twenty all numbered and in order.

"See Caraway has an envelope in his hand in picture six," Quistis drew a little box around the picture and enlarged it. The general was clearly holding a white envelope. "Then look in picture eleven." She clicked on that one and I saw what she meant before she had to say it.

"It's gone," I said leaning closer to the screen. "Where'd it go?"

"If you look right here on picture nine this is a tree. I bet he dropped it there or something. Now the photographer moves in the later slides. Hopefully we'll see if someone picked it up soon. It probably is important so I imagine they would have to."

"Right there," I exclaim pointing to the screen. "In picture thirteen, there is a man with sunglasses on tucking it into his inside coat pocket."

Quistis laughed. "All black with sunglasses, do they really think that isn't suspicious."

The man looked to be an average size, maybe a little better in shape. You could tell he could handle himself if need be. He had a short scruffy black beard that rose up his cheeks. His hair was jet black and I felt like I could feel the evil coming through from the computer.

"So we found him?" I asked hopefully.

"Hold on," She swiveled her chair to the laptop. "I'm gonna run his name in the police database and see if he get a match. Maybe he has a criminal record."

"You can do that?" I was astonished.

Quistis laughed, "You'll get use to my skills."

I frowned, "Why didn't you do that first?"

"Because if we just got a face from the police to the name, it might not be him," Quistis answered me without turning around. "This way we can compare it to the other picture. It may not be a perfect match, but we'll definitely be able to tell."

She ran the search and it took a couple minutes but a face and name did indeed appear. Not only did one appear, but it was definitely a match. Without a doubt we just found J.R. how important he really was? We still weren't too sure. But he must've been slightly important if my father contacted him in such ways.

"See," Quistis said happily turning to me. "You are much more helpful then Zell."

I laughed.

"Did I just hear my name?"

We both turned to see Zell at the door. His hair was wet and I figured he just came out of the shower. Was he really training all this time? That is quite the workout. I knew the others were back upstairs as well. They walked by a couple times doing whatever they were doing. They left us alone to do our work.

Zell walked in the room carelessly, "You girls gossiping about me." He joked.

"Ugh you sound like Seifer," I kidded back.

He laughed, "God I wouldn't want to…be…him…"

I looked at him quizzically. He was staring past Quistis at the computer. His mouth was actually open and his eyes were screaming. In a flash he was at the laptop and he picked it up and backed away. All the wires popped out of the laptop as he snatched it away.

"Zell what are you doing!" Quistis yelled.

"Who the fuck is this!" He screamed so loud I jumped in my chair. "Wha-wha…who – The fuck! Who is this!"

"Zell what-"

"Quistis!" He yelled and jumped in the air in shear frustration. "Tell me who this _fucker_ is!" He stepped closer to Quistis who backed away and although I knew they were close. It was scary as hell to me and apparently still to Quistis. I rolled my chair to get further away from the raging blonde.

"_Seifer_!" Quistis screamed. It almost came out like a cry and I knew she was freaked.

I was scared enough as it was.

"_Quistis!"_ Zell screamed again. "_Answer me_!"

He was so loud, so damn loud. His eyes glaring death and hatred at an undeserving girl.

Suddenly Seifer and Squall ran into the room.

"What's going on!" Seifer yelled.

"Zell he's-" Quistis was disheveled as she tried to tell Seifer.

"Who is he!" Zell screamed again demanding to know.

"Zell calm down!" Seifer screamed.

So much yelling. I just backed up until I hit the back wall and watched in terror as everything unfolded.

Zell held up the laptop so everyone could see. "Who is this motherfucker!" No one answer him and he screamed again.

"Quistis who is it?" Squall hurriedly asked.

"It's uh Caraway's…asset." She barely got the words out.

Zell dropped the laptop and stared at her. "This fucker is that assholes killer?" His voice was quite now and it might've been equally as scary.

"Why's it matter?" Squall stepped between Zell and Quistis. Seifer was right next to Squall. Irvine was standing in the door and Selphie was behind him. He had his arm on the doorframe protectively.

Zell spun around and grabbed his head. "He…he…" He punched the wall and screamed again. "That fucker killed my family!"

Everyone quickly shared glances of complete shock. Zell started punching the wall more. He was leaving actual dents and I think I saw some blood fly when he pulled his arm back once. Squall quickly ran in. He grabbed Zell by the shoulder and pushed him back against the wall.

"Are you sure?" He was inches from his face.

"Yes I'm fucking sure," He hissed back. "I wouldn't forget that face."

Zell fought against Squall but he kept him pressed against the wall.

"Calm down!" Squall yelled.

"Let's get this fucker!" He yelled as he grabbed Squall's shoulders. "Come on Squall! I know Quistis can find out where he lives. Let's get this guy. Let's fucking slaughter him."

"Not like this," Squall urged him.

"Why the hell not!" Zell kept pushed Squall back a couple feet but Squall got his feet centered and rammed Zell back against the wall.

"You need to calm down," Squall wasn't yelling but the urgency in his voice wasn't missed. "We'll find him Zell, I promise you...I promise you"

Zell looked away from Squall's piercing gaze. He let go of Squall and Squall let go of him. The brunette stepped back breathing a little heavy from the adrenaline. He quickly spun around and faced the rest of us.

"Get Rinoa out of here." He ordered and Selphie quickly pushed past Irvine to get to me. "Seifer you go out in the city and find any-little-fucking-thing you can. Quistis get that laptop back up and take your research into Rinoa's room. You find everything about this prick. Where he sleeps, if he has a family, what he eats, what shampoo he uses, and what his Goddamn shoe size is! Irvine, Zell and I are going out."

Everyone quickly went about their orders and it was impressive. I would've been more impressed if I wasn't just staring at Zell completely freaked out of my mind.

The blonde kept looking at the ground refusing to make eye contact with anyone. His right hand was bleeding from the knuckles and he kept opening and closing a fist. His shoulders rose with every deep breath he was taking to try and calm himself.

I felt Selphie grab my chair and hurried to push me out of the room. I caught Squall's gaze as I left. It looked apologetic but also filled with worry. I knew he cared deeply for his friend and seeing him break down like that isn't easy. I guess he wasn't always an asshole.

I was quickly whisked away back into my own room. Quistis came in shortly after and shut the door behind her. She was trying to catch her breath with a far of look in her eyes. I just wanted to get out of this chair and back in my bed. I used my arms to push out of the chair mostly. I balanced on my heels and just kinda collapsed in my bed. I fixed myself and turned around so I was resting my back against the headboard.

"This happen a lot?" I joked trying to lighten the mood.

Quistis smiled meekly at me. "I'm sorry about that Rinoa."

I shook my head seriously. "Don't worry about it. You forget I was in that room crying my eyes out over my parents. I don't blame him at all."

"That's good," Quistis took a deep breath before walking over and sitting on the edge of my bed. "Because that happens from time to time here."

"Really?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah," Selphie nodded leaning against my dresser. "Although that's the first time for Zell. He is usually always able to keep himself in control."

"Remember Rinoa," Quistis drew my attention back to her. "I told you I was lucky with my family. Everyone here has problems and sometimes they just come out. We are each other's family now. We support each other no matter what. When one breaks down the others take care of him."

I smiled at the thought of that. "You guys really do care."

"We care more of each other than anyone else."

"So have you…" I hate asking these questions because I'm prying but I can't help how curious I am.

Quistis shook her head. "I'm lucky remember."

"I have." Selphie was crossing her arms across her chest and staring out my window. The sunlight hit her face in what would be a warming presence if it wasn't for the current topic. "One time I was just washing dishes and it reminded me of my mom. I just broke down crying right there." Selphie looked at me and barely smiled. "Embarrassing huh?"

"No Selphie not at all," I quickly said. "I'm sure everyone took care of you."

Selphie laughed, "They took me out for ice-cream. I'm such a little kid."

I laughed because that was something my mom did to me when I was little.

"You are only nineteen," Quistis added.

"You're only a year older than me," Selphie accused.

"Yeah but at least I'm not a teen anymore," Quistis pointed out.

"Yeah but you'll turn thirty first," Selphie scrunched her face at the blonde.

"Unfair!" Quistis exclaimed.

I couldn't help it. I burst out laughing at the two females. They stared at me first before joining me. And for a good couple minutes we just laughed and laughed. It felt good and it relieved all previous tensions that may have been there. Soon all the laughter just turned into small giggles.

A phone started ringing and I noticed Quistis had her phone in her hand. Was she expecting this call?

"Hey." Quistis answered smiling a little more.

I looked over at Selphie to see her mouth 'Seifer' to me.

"Yeah I'll get to work right away." There was a pause as Seifer talked. "I don't know what you are supposed to do until I find out more." Another pause. "Well Squall was doing all that right there to make Zell feel better." Another pause and Quistis opened her mouth in what seemed like shock. "Seifer I don't care if you want to feel better too." She looked frustrated now. "Seifer if you go to a strip club I'm not letting you back in this apartment." Another pause and she opened her mouth again in surprise. "Seifer are you at one right now!"

I was trying not to laugh as I listened. I glanced at Selphie who turned around to face the other way. I could tell by her shoulders bouncing she as also trying not to laugh.

"Find another place to do _research_," Quistis huffed. "J.R does not go to that same strip club, you don't know that." Quistis was starting to look really pissed now. "Seifer don't think I can't hear what that girl just said."

Uh oh. This went from funny to being quite serious. Seifer wouldn't really be at a strip club. Well…he might. But I don't think he is even dumb enough to call her from it.

"What do you mean you're going to the back room to the _actual_ pretty girls," Quistis repeated horrified.

I started feeling really bad for her until I saw the door to my room slowly open. And there was Seifer on the phone. He had a wide smile on his face.

"Hey big daddy," Seifer changed his voice to sound like a girl.

"Seifer I swear," Quistis huffed.

"You swear what Quistis," Seifer spoke loudly away from the phone.

Quistis' head snapped towards the door where she let out a big sigh. "You idiot."

Selphie and me nearly died laughing. I didn't know Seifer could be so funny at times. I guess he is funnier when you aren't the victim of his jokes.

"First it's been like five minutes, how was i supposed to be at a strip club already." He walked into the room snapping his phone shut. "Second, what does Squall expect me to go out and find?"

"He just did it to show Zell that we were doing everything we could right away," Quistis explained.

"Yeah well I think Zell will realize that when he calms down a little," Seifer leaned against the wall. "So what you girls doing in here. Painting each other's toes."

"Hey let's paint Seifer's toes," Selphie chimed.

"Let's see you try." Seifer challenged.

"Alright joking aside," I spoke out, "will Zell be okay?"

"He'll be fine," Seifer answered. "Once in a while someone might break down. That was a first for Zell though."

"That's what they were telling me," I said.

Seifer shrugged, "This guy is obviously our next hit, with good reason too. He might lead us to more people that run with Caraway."

"So what are we going to do," I asked to everyone generally.

Seifer crossed his arms. "Well Quistis will probably do a lot of research the next couple days. I'm sure I will have to go out and get info over the next couple days. Irvine will basically make us food and help around the house while we're all busy."

"I'll be doing that too," Selphie raised her hand.

Seifer nodded, "Right, then when Quistis gets more information about what the job will be like. Irvine will start to pick out what rifle he will use and any other guns. Selphie will start to look at maps and figure out the road plans. She'll drive around and figure out traffic situations in that area. Maybe plant a couple cars around just in case."

"What will Zell do this whole time?" I inquired.

"He will mostly likely be in the gym everyday up until the day of the job."

"Okay and Squall?"

Seifer smirked, "He oversees everything. We report to him, and he checks in on us. He'll do his own research as well. I'm sure he'll be with either me or Quistis most of the time though."

"So he really is the leader?"

Seifer chuckled, "Is that hard to believe?"

I looked away sheepishly. "Well I figured you would kind of want to be the leader."

"Is it because you think I'm arrogant and cocky as hell?"

I didn't answer but yes…that was the exact reason.

"Being a leader is impossibly hard and I'm not that cocky," Seifer turned around and walked out the door. "Besides I'm too good to lead you sorry bunch of bitches."

"Yeah cocky is the one thing Seifer isn't…bleh." Selphie faked vomiting.

"Well what's my job gonna be?" I asked the two girls.

Quistis smiled and patted me on my leg. "Your job is to get better. Because we are going to want to start your training soon. For all we know. We might need you on this job."

I smiled feeling the warmth of her words spread throughout my body. The feeling of importance and want. I couldn't wait to get better. I wanted to _actually_ feel apart of the team. Not just them telling me I was. To be apart of this elite team that was so close. It has to be the best feeling this world can give to you. I want Squall to order me do to something. Because that meant he trusted me and it seemed it took a lot to get his trust.

That's just based off pure conjecture though and from what I've seen. He could be the most complicated man I've ever met. I really don't know what he's thinking half the time. I get the feeling that his mind is so complex and complicated if anyone could walk in it they'd get lost in all his thoughts. Wandering endlessly looking for a way around. And it makes me wonder, does he know the straight path to all the answers in his head. Or does he get lost as well at times.

All things that I hope to be answered in time.

* * *

**Sorry this is so late. Many things came up since last chapter and i had to deal with all that first. Good news though, my beta is finally back. Yay for that. Be nice, leave a review. **


	9. Training

**Okay so this was done a little while ago, it was supposed to come out on June 1st for my friend, Fantasy Fan Girl's birthday, sadly me being my usual genius ****self ended up failing math, causing my computer to get taken away from me. So i quickly snuck on to update this chapter, even if a little late, enjoy. And sorry FFG for missing it.

* * *

**

**Squall's POV**

**December 8th**

December fucking sucks. It's so damn cold. One of my favorite things to do is go on the roof and think about everything. Ponder about life and all its mysteries. Why people do the things they do. Why I do the things I do. What my next plans in life are going to be.

And it's a great place to smoke.

To bad I haven't had a cigarette in almost a fucking week. It's way to cold to stand outside. It isn't even enjoyable. I miss the old days where you could go into a bar and get drunk of your ass. Smoke 'till your lungs shriveled up and you couldn't breath anymore. But now it's illegal so everyone who just enjoys a simple smoke has to freeze their ass off in the winter. I bet that's why winter is the time of the year when most quit. Simply because they don't want to get frostbite.

Whatever, I manage to get by past winters; I'll get past this one. More importantly is what has been going on recently. After Zell had his little breakdown we put all our efforts into finding out who this James Reynolds was. He wasn't an easy man to find. He was very secretive about everything he did.

But of course Quistis came through in the end. She found out he has connections to the Capella family. Which now I believe has connections with Caraway. It all makes sense in the end when you think about it. Caraway has always been a leader in politics without a doubt. Yet he is almost never challenged. It's not exactly like he threatens anyone that challenges him in anyways. That's an extreme.

For example.

We have our theory on why he had this _J.R_ took out Zell's family. Caraway was trying to get Zell to join his special forces. He mentioned it to us before a while ago but no one thought anything of it. He wanted Zell's skills for 'secret missions' or some shit. Wanted a young, upbeat, skillful and most importantly, controllable person.

Yet Zell continued to refuse him time and time again. He listened to his grandfather dearly and Zell never did anything his grandfather didn't give his blessing on. So Caraway probably ordered them to kill his grandfather and mother. Make it look like a break-in and act like he was left alive for unknown reasons. When in reality it was because Caraway wanted to use him.

This may all seem like a stretch, but it was confirmed when Caraway was also at the funnel and tried to play the sincere card acting like he really cared. Then he tried to play it into fighting for justice and the whatnot. Zell almost ripped his head off right there.

I remember because I was there. Seifer and I were standing back waiting for our time to approach. We thought it was weird Caraway was there at the time but we didn't care about him too much. So when we approached Zell I guess we had a lot more pleasing offer than the Special Forces. Whatever the fuck they are anyway.

So now we have now found significant reason to go after this J.R. See, we aren't going to just kill him. We are going to capture him. Something we've never done before. The reason we are taking him is simply because he will be able to lead us back to the Capella family. Which is something that would help us a lot. They were most likely behind the attacks on Rinoa before she joined us.

They have a house somewhere of course, but we aren't exactly sure where exactly. We have a few guesses of course. But we don't have any proof to act on them. Or maybe they are all his and if we break in one, he will be at another one. Then he'll know we are after him and lay low or something. So we need more data and that's where J.R. will come in.

There is good reason to believe that the Capella family is all of Caraways dirty workers. Take them out, and we have successfully relieved the world of any Caraway type influences. Something that would be a great accomplishment for us.

Now on to the most important matters. Rinoa Heartily has to start training. This job is too big to not use her. She is officially apart of the team and there isn't enough time to cover everything. But she has been down in the shooting range as much as possible. I guess according to Irvine her shot is improving. Far from perfect, but showing improvement is a definite plus. As long as she has time to concentrate and the target isn't moving. She might hit him. If he's running, she better just hope he gets scared and trips.

The other problem is that although her toes are healed. They are far from perfect. She shouldn't be doing crazy maneuvers but she can walk and I think if push comes to shove, she'll be able to run. So I want to see how good her close combat is. I'll train her a bit and then hopefully she'll be able to help in the job somewhat. Not a big part by any means…that is just death for all of us.

Now only if she didn't have an attitude.

"You gonna actually try," I sighed.

Rinoa glared at me from the floor. She slowly got back up, glaring at me the whole time. She pulled her fists back up in her fighting positions. Her black hair was tried back into a ponytail. She wore a white headgear as well to protect her head…just in case. As well as small padded gloves that also protected some of the wrist. She wore small shorts that hugged her tightly as exposed her long legs. For a shirt it was simply a blue tank top, revealing her midriff most of the time.

"Maybe you should teach me and not just beat me up." She growled at me.

"I said mind your feet."

I wasn't wearing any pads or anything. She wouldn't get an actual painful hit in, so I wasn't worried. And I wasn't throwing hard punches or anything either. Mostly just slapping her up and doing some takedown moves. She's gotta learn at some point.

"Just try again," I told her.

"Rinoa don't forget that every attack you are thinking about defense," Zell added wisely from the side.

"That doesn't make sense," Rinoa complained.

But she continued to try anyways. She threw one punch that I grabbed easily. I twisted her wrist and spinning on my feet I got behind her. I pushed her head forward with my other hand and held her twisted wrist outstretched in the air. It left her in an awkward position bending over not really able to do anything.

"Uncle." She whined.

"No uncle," I responded sternly, "Break it."

"How the fuck do I do that?" She hissed.

"Legs!" Zell yelled from the side.

She tried to sweep her legs back and get them tangled with mine. But that was way harder for her than she expected. She couldn't exactly get to my feet with a strong kick. And if she did I simply stepped back and she had to move her foot to balance.

"Anymore suggestions Zell?" Seifer smirked also standing and watching.

"Do something crazy?" He shrugged.

"Something crazy…"

Before I could even react she twisted her whole body and went heavy. I struggled to not topple over and while I was doing that I felt her arm untwist. I managed to let go and step back just as a foot came flying right in front of me, just tapping my chin. I hopped back surprised and watched as she fell on her back.

"Damn," She pounded the mat and then slowly got back up.

"Wooh! You go girl!" Selphie yelled.

"What was that?" I asked resisting the temptation to check my chin.

"I use to do dance before college." She explained as she took another fighting position. "I am fairly flexible and know how to do a couple of gymnastic moves."

"Impressive," Irvine noted.

"It was sloppy as hell but it was good for someone who never had training before." Zell announced to the room.

"Squall, you know what this means?" Seifer asked.

I nodded. Of course I knew what this meant. This meant she has a good jump-start to learning a new style that Seifer, Zell, and I have been developing. I thought it would take months but she has the hardest stuff down. It might only take a couple weeks of hard work now.

"What's it mean?" Rinoa asked.

"As you may know-"I started

"Just tell her," Seifer interrupted.

He ruins all my fun. I have been trying to seem like a leader to her still. I want her to think that she isn't in a complete relax environment. I know if everyone babied her then she wouldn't feel the need to improve quickly. She would just strut along and be happy everyone liked her. I know that is exactly what she is thinking.

Everyone else that came here had something pushing them towards revenge. We don't encourage revenge, but it was still a strong motivator for sure. Zell for his family, Selphie for her mother, Irvine for uh…well Irvine kinda just hated crime. Quistis to mainly prove she was useful because I know many times in her life she was thought as helpless. Seifer because he's seen so much shit it's unbelievable. Maybe also to try and prove he's not like his parents. Even I came here because of my parents.

We all have something, Rinoa _might_ have her parents. Although she hated her father and _we _killed him. And her mother was killed by a drunk driver, which isn't a thing to condone, but we can't go around killing everyone drunk behind a wheel. So the only thing she has is pride and maybe a hatred for crime. Which everyone technically has a hatred for crime? I safely can say, she doesn't know what crime is.

So that is the reason I have been such a prick to her. Keeping my distance, not babying her in her room like others. I made sure they were friendly to keep her happy. She needed to know that everyone didn't hate her. I even made Seifer go in and visit, which was by no means easy. I owe the bastard one now and that I've learned is a huge mistake.

But she needs to have that authority in her life at the moment. Soon she'll learn that I am not a jackass and a prick. But if I was nice now she might not listen later and that could be the death of her, me or anyone else. She needs to learn to always listen to me, and when that is accomplished, I'll ease up a bit.

After glaring at Seifer I returned my gaze back to Rinoa. "Everyone on our team has unique skills."

Rinoa nodded. "Everyone is like an elite."

I nodded, "When you master your skills, which I must remind you is impossible, there is always room for improvement. But for the sake of this just agree with me."

"Agreed."

"So what we did is kind of started combining our skills where we can. Which really is all the hand-to-hand fighting we do."

"I thought only Zell did hand-to-hand?" She quirked an eyebrow.

"If that was the case why would we be practicing right now," I gave her a look.

She didn't reply.

"Right, okay." I continued. "Zell is obviously the best since he knows karate."

"Martial arts." He corrected slightly angered.

I smirked. "But Seifer and I both have our own styles."

"Oh really." She seemed impressed glancing over at Seifer for a second then back at me.

"Seifer is the strongest here, so his moves are usually takedowns. Get a hard punch or kick and end it."

"And you?"

"I was actually a boxer at one point in my life."

She laughed, "Yeah right."

I smirked, "Wanna go."

"I know you're better than me but I know you can't take professional boxers."

"Oh is that so," I crossed my arms and looked at Seifer. "She says I can't take professional boxers."

Seifer waved his hand in front of his face shaking his head. "Professionals are pussies. Squall did underground boxing. That's the tough shit. Bare knuckle fighting with no refs except the crowd cheering for blood."

"Oh Seifer you're too kind, I'm flattered."

"Not at all." He smiled back at me bowing.

She gaped at me, with her eyes traveling up and down not believing an average sized person would be able to do that.

"So the point is," I snapped my fingers breaking her stare. "We have created something we like to call Close-Quarters-Combat. Or CQC for short. It is a series of takedown moves and quick agility to simply take your opponent out. This is the best form for an average person in close rage fighting. Zell goes beyond this. So CQC beats fighting, and martial arts beats CQC."

"What beats martial arts then?"

"Man what an amazing question," I sarcastically drawled out for no reason other than to anger her slightly. Remember, being a jackass. "It's like I wasn't going to tell you in another couple seconds."

"Fine whatever, sorry, please continue." She scowled.

"We have been working on a type of CQC mixed with martial arts. Zell has been slightly testing it but he's more comfortable with his strict martial arts. And he's good enough in that, so there is no reason to make him try new things that might get him killed."

"Okay." I knew she was dieing to ask another question but she held back. A little funny to me honestly.

"So we were going to slowly, over months, try and teach you this new style. The problem was you had to be agile and quick. Which you tend to be clumsy, so we thought it might take longer than we wanted it to."

"But since I do have some skills with tumbling it will go faster."

"The fuck's tumbling?" Seifer snickered. "You rolling on the ground."

"It's flips basically," Quistis explained. "A little more difficult than simple rolling on the ground."

Seifer shrugged not caring too much.

"But yes, you should be a pretty good test for this new style," I continued to tell her. "We first have to teach you basic CQC. That will take some time because you need to perfect it before moving onto something more difficult."

"So that is what my training will be for a while?" She asked kind of turning her head and narrowing her eyes.

I chuckled. "Hell no. Rinoa I will be training you in everything for a long time."

"Everything?" She sighed.

"Everything, I will teach you how to live your life. How to jump, run, climb, speak, drive, shoot, maybe even eat."

"I know how to run and stuff," She retorted.

"Not properly I'm sure."

"Rinoa," This was Quistis being all motherly and kind to save her from big bad me. "Squall has a point. He will teach you how to breathe when you run, when you want to jump more vertically than horizontally. It is all stuff that is necessary for the job."

"Oh great," She looked gloomy as she turned to me. "I am gonna be with you for all this."

I smiled. "Yup. Right down to how to be a proper prostitute."

She pouted and hung her arms. "This totally blows."

What a good choice of words for that answer.

"Well we'll get started soon." I turned to everyone else. "You guys can stop watching now and go about your business. I know you have something else to do instead of watching us."

"But it's entertaining," Seifer jeered.

"I bet it is but you all have jobs," I reinforced.

"Fine, fine," Seifer walked out and the other followed him saying their good-byes and good-lucks to Rinoa as they did.

"So what do you want to do?" I asked.

"You're letting me decide?"

"Do you still want to keep trying to lean CQC?"

"Is that what this is right now?" She pointed to the mat beneath us.

I nodded. "A very simple form, I'm really just testing you but I can teach you a couple things."

"Like what?"

I thought for a second. "Okay, get down on your back."

She gave me a look and I just frowned. She slowly got on her back.

"Now don't freak out I'm going to basically sit on you." I told her as I put my knees on either side of her.

"You mean straddle me," I wasn't sure if she was joking or not.

I decided to ignore her, "look at your position right now. First can your legs get up to my head?"

She tried it and they could actually get over my head and around my neck. She kept her leg there while I talked, something she seemed to find a little funny. Especially since it caused me to struggle with talking clearly with her leg pressing against my neck.

"Now this is the first thing you try if you get in this position," I explained, "But a good fighter would never sit on you-"

"Straddle." She corrected quickly.

I growled slightly. "_Straddle_ you like this. Put your leg back…please." She did and I readjusted myself further back so I wasn't on her stomach anymore. I was resting on her hips…yes this looks pretty bad for all perverts out there.

"Now you can't get the angle of your body to get your legs up," I told her and she tried but like I said it didn't happen. "Okay so now you just basically go crazy."

"What." She narrowed her eyes at me to see if I was joking.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm serious. Have a compulsion of some kind. Flail your arms, kick your legs, rock your hips."

"You sure we aren't having sex?" She smirked.

"Do you usually flail your arms and kick your legs," I challenged. "Hate to break it Rinoa, you aren't having sex you're being raped."

"Oh so that's what that was." She tapped her lips with a finger. "Thought something was wrong."

"Just listen," I growled not wanting to take the joke any further. She smiled content with the thought that she won.

"You are literally trying to buck the person off you. They will be trying to stay on you and hopefully this will take away their concentration of punching you."

"What if someone has a knife?" She asked serious.

"If they are using their body to press down you won't win pushing it back." I told her and she looked worried for a moment. "You just try and turn the knife. If the blade goes anywhere away from pointing at you, then you're set. Let it come down and just lay on you, then the man will be stuck, because he'll have to lift it up to push it back down again. Which with someone else messing with the blade is practically impossible."

"Noted."

"What else you wanna learn."

"Why do martial art fighters always put their legs around their opponents neck when on the ground?"

"Good question." I backed off her and knelt on the ground in front of her. "Put your legs around my neck."

"Oh kinky," She remarked as she did as instructed.

"Please I get enough of it from Seifer and Irvine…and Zell. I don't need you to."

She giggled slightly, "Wow didn't know you were funny."

I ignored the comment. "If you notice as I try and get on you to gain the advantage." I slowly did as I explained. "If you push with your legs you will slide back and I can't get on top of you." She did it and she slid back slightly. "But if I get above you then you still have the power to push me back possibly. And this is a pretty awkward spot for me to try and punch you."

"Pretty cool," she released her leg grip and I stood back up.

"Okay let's just continue sparring a little bit."

She nodded and stood up as well. We both took position and began once again.

I don't know how long we went at it but it was a while. We went over many moves. I just showed her things whenever they came up. Teaching her little techniques here and there. To be quite honest, she wasn't half bad. A couple more weeks and she could pose a serious threat. But for now she needed a rest. Well…we both needed a rest. She really started to tire me out towards the end.

We both entered into the living room to see it was completely empty. A little strange but it happened time to time. She plopped on the couch as I went to the fridge.

"Want something to drink?" I called out.

"What ya got?" She asked as she pulled off her gear.

"Beer." I replied.

"You're kidding," She flipped around on the couch and looked over. "You have two refrigerators I thought."

I chuckled. "Yeah we need a lot of food and drinks to keep everyone happy."

"One's for food and one's for drinks?" She seemed bemused. I thought she saw them on the tour we gave her before. Guess she only opened the one that has the food in it.

I faced her. "Well yeah, although drinks really just imply…beer."

"But not everyone's twenty-one right?" She questioned.

"Only me, Zell and Seifer are twenty-one. Irvine twenty along with Quistis. Then you and Selphie are nineteen. But Rinoa, I'm not naïve enough to think you haven't had a drink before."

"Well I don't want one after I work out," she said flipping back around on the couch, "just get me a water."

I smirked to myself. Kids, when will they learn beer is right for any occasion. I grabbed one and filled a glass of water. I walked back over to the couch and sat next to her. I handed her the glass, which she gracefully accepted it. She took a couple big gulps before setting it down.

"So what's your story?" she asked.

"Oh you think after a little training we are going to tell each other our life stories," I chuckled.

"Well you already know mine, it's a little unfair. Just tell me something about you."

She raised a fair point but one that I didn't care much about. "Still not saying anything."

"That isn't fair."

"Life ain't fair."

She let out a huge exaggerated sigh. "Don't give me that. Parents say that shit to like their kids."

"You are a kid."

"Am not," She huffed, "I'm a legal adult."

"Go buy a drink," I smirked looking at her.

"It isn't my fault our government is retarded."

"Ah something that I also agree with."

There was silence for a moment. I didn't care so much, I liked my quiet. But it seemed to bother her something fierce. Something fierce…when the fuck do I ever say that. Whatever, mental lapse. Well it didn't take long for her to break the silence.

"You really aren't going to tell me anything."

"No I'm really not," I was chuckled again. She was kind of entertaining.

"Meanie." She looked away exaggerating her anger.

I couldn't help but laugh a little again. She was very childish. I didn't realize that. Every time I spoke with her or anything, she was always in some situation. It was never relaxed like this. She played with her glass when the words stopped. She was like Zell, something always had to be going on. How come some people just can't sit and relax every once-in-a-while?

"So your sister was taken away," She asked suddenly not daring to look up at me.

How'd she know about that? Did someone else tell her?

"You told me that one night," She said after I didn't respond guessing my thoughts somehow.

I mumbled my annoyance.

"You wanna talk about it," She looked at me with a sincere caring face. "I know you think I'd be the last person to understand, and you've probably come to terms with it since you seem to be so smart according to everyone."

"Everyone?"

She drummed her glass with her fingers again looking down intently at it. "I'm sure you know that everyone seems to look to you as this amazing leader. I believe it of course, I just haven't seen it yet. No offense." She quickly glanced at me to see if I was offended. When I gave her no reaction she turned back.

I shrugged, "Don't think I'm a god or anything. I know the gang gets out of hand at times and can build stuff up. If you cut me, I'll bleed. I can drown and I can't fly. You don't get this image of me taking down all the wicked people in the world while holding a baby in my hand or something."

Rinoa giggled and rested her head against the couch. "That would be a sight, but I'm being serious. They all have told me how great a leader you are. Selphie even called you a savior for all of them."

I chuckled at that. "Savior huh? Girls on crack you know right."

She giggled and slapped me in the shoulder. She froze after she did the act however.

"Relax I'm not gonna kill you if you touch me," I sighed.

She covered her mouth as she laughed again. "Well I don't really know how you'd react to most things."

"Whatever."

"But like I was saying," She took another sip of her water. "You are the leader of this gang of people who have nothing left but each other. Like Peter Pan and the lost boys."

"If you just compared me to Peter Pan…"

She smiled and gave me playful eyes.

"I'll put you back in that room." I pointed to the room that has been designated the torture chamber by the raven-haired girl.

She outwardly shuttered to show she knew I was just joking and didn't really take offense. But then she turned back to me with a serious face. "Squall I hope you realize how important you are to them all."

"I know."

She looked at me quizzically.

I leaned my head back and stared at the ceiling. "I know that they all look up to me. I'm not that oblivious. It frightens me in some ways and in others it is reassuring."

"How so?"

I wasn't sure why I was telling her this exactly. Maybe because she still felt a little outside to me. She was apart of the group in a sense, but of course she wasn't as close to everyone as we all are. So it was good to talk to someone else about this. I haven't been bottling problems up inside me. I'm not afraid to talk to anyone in the house. Sometimes it is just better to talk to someone outside the house. That and although I was trying to be a jackass, I couldn't have her completely hate my guts. I needed her to know that I was a person she could come and talk to.

"It reassures me that I know they will always have my back. But it frightens me to how far that goes. Will they die for me? That is the last thing I want. I wonder if I do die, what will they do?"

"We'll probably go ape shit and just fuck the city up."

My head snapped forward to see Seifer smirking at me sinisterly with Quistis trying to keep her laugh down.

"I hate this place." I muttered

"Seifer! Me and Squall were bonding!" Rinoa whined.

"We were not," I stated.

"You were bonding with the whole house listening," Quistis pointed behind us.

I turned around to see Selphie and Irvine walk out.

"Didn't know you cared so much Squall," Irvine chuckled.

"Oh Squall!" Selphie cried and before I could react, charged me. She dove over the couch onto me wrapping me in a big hug.

"I _hate_ this place."

"Should we all get ice-cream and walk the beach," Seifer snickered.

"I don't know if I can handle anymore confessions though," Zell laughed stepping out next to Seifer.

"_I hate this fucking place_," I hissed.

"Guys you ruined it," Rinoa complained again.

"Guys don't make fun of him," Selphie argued. I was _so _happy she had my back. "He was being serious and we should talk about it."

"I answered him serious," Seifer shrugged. "If Squall died, I know we wouldn't sit back and just take it."

"Aw Seifer," Selphie released me and made her way quickly over to Seifer.

He saw his doom to late. He only had enough time for his face to drop before Selphie tackled him to the ground. An impressive task with how small she was compared to Seifer.

"You do care!" She cheered rubbing her cheek against his chest.

"Quistis…" Seifer begged.

Quistis was trying to contain her laughter. "Oh no, I don't want to be the next target."

"Enough," I exclaimed sitting back down on the couch. It got everyone's attention. "I thought I told you to do your jobs."

Seifer finally wedged himself free from Selphie and stood up dusting himself off. "I don't know about the cowboy and hugs here, but we did do our work and we came to a problem."

My eyes narrowed. "Like what?"

"We know December twentieth he will be meeting at an apartment down in the city." Quistis told me.

"We do?" Rinoa turned to me.

"Long story, basically Quistis and Zell are amazing, just go with it." I answered his quickly trying to get back to the conversation at hand. Problems were never good, because problems meant something big. Difficulties could usually be ignored or just dealt with. But _problems_, that was another whole story.

"Well we've been doing research as you know," Quistis explained as she walked over and placed pictures and blue prints of the building. "There is too much commotion and levels. To many variables, to many risks."

"For what?" I rested my elbows on my knees and brought my folded hands to my lips.

"To do this type of job with this many people on our team." She sat down in the armchair to my left. "If we try to nab him when he gets out of his car, we are sure the guards around the building will see. We will be locked into a deadly car chase then. Even if we take them out and get away, it is way to noisy with too many chances for error and risk."

"That's why that isn't the plan," I told her.

"I know, but what you want to do is impossible with the people at hand." Quistis crossed one leg over the other and rested on it. "If we are putting him in a car we have to have Selphie drive it _incase _something happens. Then our usual rule is to have a copilot in the passenger seat. To help her if she needs anything. That will probably be Seifer correct?"

"Yes," I nodded.

"Then if there is a car chase we'll need another skilled drive, which would be Zell to be a decoy. Also he will have to help Seifer carry the body since Selphie won't be much help to move it fast."

"Then Irvine is on the roof giving cover," I finished for her. I leaned back and sighed. "Rinoa is supposed to be on the roof with Irvine. Safe and can see how we go, but what if we made her drive a car."

Quistis shook her head. "If everything goes according to plan then that would be perfect."

"But we can't do that," I agreed.

"Why not?" Rinoa asked.

"Hope for the best, plan for the worst," Seifer told me sitting down next to Rinoa.

Selphie sat on the floor with Zell while Irvine took the other armchair to the right of the couch.

"So you're saying…you can't leave anything to chance," She snapped at the end. I don't know why she does stuff like that but it fit her somehow.

"Exactly," Quistis answered before turning back to me. "So we need someone who has been trained and know the streets enough. Rinoa's original part was to just watch next to Irvine, she's too new to get involved."

I thought for a moment. It was true but this was our best chance. I glanced at Zell who was staring at the pictures of J.R. intently. I couldn't let this moment slip by. It was a perfect chance to get him and have Zell get some closure. It would also help us immensely with the Capella family.

"What if Rinoa comes with me," I suggested not looking forward to the response I would get.

"No!" Quistis replied sternly. "Squall you are doing the most dangerous part. I will not allow you to take her with you."

"I'll do it," Rinoa piped up.

"_No!_ You won't," Quistis stressed again.

"Why I can handle it," Rinoa replied seriously.

"You don't understand what Squall does," Selphie meekly said. "He is doing everything in this job. We are just his backup. He is going into the building and getting J.R. That means if it goes bad, he will have to fight his way through levels of people. He will be getting his hands so bloody with this one. Rin…you can't go with him."

"She might though," Seifer agreed.

"Seifer," Quistis growled her warning.

"Is the extra car a necessity?" Rinoa asked.

"It would help a lot." I explained. "If there is a car chase, it would be enough confusion that we could get J.R to a place to keep him. Other wise they could just tail is everywhere and we'd have to lose them. Which is possible, but might hurt innocents, or get us killed. So two – at least – is a great help."

"Well I could drive the car," Rinoa suggested. "Teach me the road and stuff. Then you could have Zell inside which would be the best, right?"

We were all silent to her suggestion.

"Um no then?" She said.

"They think I'll lose my cool," Zell answered coolly. "They are probably right. If I start beating the shit out of the guy, then we might be caught. I'll get my time with him but when I'm in complete control and not on a mission."

"Okay and I assume Seifer is riding shotgun with Selphie then because he has a better shot than Zell?" Rinoa turned to me for approval.

Rinoa was pretty smart. She caught on quick when it came to things like this.

I nodded. "Exactly, so that leaves Irvine."

The cowboy shook his head. "I'm not one for close range and they might need my cover."

"You think you'll get a shot?" She asked.

He shrugged. "If I simply can delay them from getting to their cars then it will be worth it. Anything that gives us a advantage."

"Okay," She looked down at her hands. "Well that settles it doesn't it? I'm going with Squall."

"Rinoa you don't understand," Quistis told her softly.

Rinoa seemed a little flustered. "Maybe I don't, but I can make my own decisions. From what I know, this is the only way. Squall needs some backup and even if I don't do much I should be good enough, right?"

I looked at her seriously. "Do you really want to do this?"

She nodded bravely. "Of course, I didn't join this team to simply watch."

I smiled proudly. "Very well." I turned to everyone in the room. "Okay people while we're all here let's go over the plan."

Everyone cheered their agreement then got closer to the coffee table. I spread the stuff around to get it all in order.

I held up a picture of J.R. "This is our target. We are to capture him _alive_. This way we can question him about the Capella family."

"Which we believe have ties to my father?" Rinoa questioned.

I nodded. "Yes, that way we can possibly take out a whole mob family. Think about the news roaring about us taking out a whole mob. Criminals will really start to fear us."

"Anyways…" Selphie egged on.

I pulled over a blue print of the seventh floor. "We believe he will be here. It seems to be the meeting place for this building."

"Uh what?" Rinoa was puzzled.

"Every somewhat high-ranked person in a mob has to report to the boss." Irvine told her. "But to meet with them personally can be dangerous. So they usually go to a room with a phone and make a call. This is for special underlings only though, ones that rarely see the main man. So we know he has come to this building every two weeks exactly. It is obviously his reported check in. So December twentieth is his report day. That's when we'll catch him."

"Okay cool." Rinoa clapped her hands. "What's next?"

"Me and you-" I grabbed the top floor blue print."- will be roof hopping until we are on their roof."

"Some are spaced pretty far apart." Rinoa commented.

"We bring a light ladder with us," I told her. "Most likely there will be cameras on the roof. Hopefully Quistis can hack those but if she can't. Then we simply find the weak point and go from there."

"Do all roofs have a weak point?"

I shrugged, "Not really, but I imagine this one does. If you look at the picture of it outside." She grabbed a couple and rifled through them. "They don't want to stick out so they aren't going heavy on the security. They are going for a run down apartment building. Although most know it's a mob house."

"Okay so once we're in."

I pulled out the blueprints again. "We'll work our way down to the seventh floor. There shouldn't be much activity going on up there."

"If there is?"

I liked this, she checked to make sure. "We will be wearing maintenance uniforms. If anyone just sees us and we give them a nonchalant nod. We shouldn't be bothered. The people in the bottom floor are supposed to cover all the security checks. So once you're inside, it should be good."

"Well sounds good to me," Rinoa said putting the picture back. "How are we getting him out?

I looked at her questionably for a bit. "Have we not told you anything?"

She shook her head. "Nothing except I would be with Irvine. Which I'm not anymore, so no…nothing."

I turned back to the table satisfied with that answer. "You have the machine picture."

Quistis shuffled through all the stuff before pulling out a picture of a circular object that had a two-foot radius. It had a metallic luster and it had swirls like a twister driving into the center. There was a cable heading out of one end.

"Okay…this doesn't tell me much," Rinoa frowned looking at the contraption.

I smiled watching her turn the photo trying to figure it out. I took the picture from her and held it right side up. "This cable is steel, it won't break. You bolt the main body of the object to the floor. We'll then take the cable, which retracts out, and tie it around J.R. Then we simply toss him out the window."

"Uh huh…the joke comes in when?"

I smirked. "We call this The Toss. The machine should slowly give slack until he's at the bottom. When it is at the bottom, we simply slide down the cable after J.R.'s unconscious body."

"Wow," She was impressed to say the least. "This sounds great. I'm no expert, but this is really good right. I mean we shouldn't even have to fight anyone if it goes perfectly according to plan."

I nodded. "If it goes to plan. And to be frank, we don't see this going right."

She grimaced. "Why make a plan you don't see going right?"

I leaned back on the couch. "Well they might see him going down a window. They might not believe we are maintenance. There is just a lot that can go wrong. This is a weird one, if we were just trying to assassinate J.R. That would be easy. Window shot for Irvine. But we've never tried to kidnap someone. So it will be a little different and something we aren't use to."

"I see," She looked back at the table with all the pictures in thought. "Well I still like it and I want to go with Squall." She looked up encouragingly at everyone. "I mean if everything goes properly then there shouldn't be a problem."

"That's the spirit," Selphie cheered.

"Knew it was a good reason to have you here," Zell laughed.

"Well Rinoa looks like you got more training to do," I told her. "If you are coming with me I can't have any mistakes."

"I understand." She stood from the couch. "I know I mess around and can seem childish, but I always come through in the end."

"I know you do," As I stood from the couch. I gave her a sincere look. "Just remember that you are to come out of it alive. Not matter what happens. So to improve your odds, start your training immediately."

I started walking towards my room.

"Wait," her voice was quiet, "Aren't you training me."

I shook my head and kept walking. "I got to prepare myself. Irvine will help you with your shooting and Zell and Seifer with your CQC. If you have more questions ask Quistis. But no one bother me unless it is extremely important."

I got a murmur of agreements and with that I shut my door and began my twelve-day preparation.

* * *

**Okay so not my favorite but a review would still be nice. **


	10. Kidnap

**Hey Thanks for the reviews. Now that its summer I really will have a lot more time to write, so hopefully the updates continue to come quick.

* * *

**

**Rinoa's POV**

**December Twentieth**

My fingers twitched. I couldn't help it. I was freaking out in my mind. A simple finger twitch I could live with as long as I didn't panic outwardly. Besides, the finger twitch helped remind me that I wasn't fucking dreaming, because I was on a roof with Squall Leonhart. The leader of the vigilantes that protect this city.

Vigilantes' sounds awfully bad but in reality it is exactly what they are. Sorry, _we_ are. A strange thought still that I was apart of the team, but it's clear right now. Crawling across rooftops slowly approaching our destination. The building that holds my father's asset, the murderer of Zell's family, and our connection to the Capella family.

Now only if I could keep my cool enough to get through this without embarrassing myself. I've been told as long as I do exactly what Squall says then I'll make it through this unharmed. I find that highly improbable. Everyone thinks highly of Squall, and I kinda see why. He has that aura about him whenever you speak to him seriously. Yet I've yet to see him do anything special.

Each person I've witnessed something incredible, some talent, some skill, but I've only seen Squall shoot once. He didn't even really help with the set up for this mission. He locked himself in his room for like ten days. Sometimes he literally didn't come out for days. Quistis would go in and drop some food off, and she only stayed in for a minute or two. Nothing more than necessary. One would think a leader over sees the activities for the mission. Not Squall though. Maybe he just trusts his team enough that he doesn't have to.

Well whatever he is, I'm stuck with him and I have to put all my trust in him because I am still nervous beyond belief. Like a kid about to enter a new school. This was my first task, everyone would judge me from it. Not only that but I might die. Something that I didn't have to face my first day of school.

I quickly scurried behind Squall. Keeping my back down and head low. He was carrying a small ladder so he stood a little straighter. We hurried to a gap and he wordless put the ladder between it. He hurried across and I followed. He picked the ladder up and we were on the move again.

We haven't said a word since the garage before we left. His words still carried with me though.

Everyone stood at the cars that would be taken. They all stood in a circle just glancing around at each other. I stood among them finding myself itching to leave. Mainly because my nerves were already getting to me so I just wanted get this over already.

_Squall took a breath and then made eye contact with everyone. "As you guys know this is something we haven't done before. Yet that doesn't mean we go about this differently. We stick to the plan, we follow my instructions, and we'll all get through this."_

_I could tell everyone hung on his every word. They dripped from his mouth like fire. They were dangerous about the task, yet they gave hope and life in them. I could feel my whole body tighten listening to him. _

"_If I call everyone to drop back, then fucking do it." He growled. "There are no heroes here today. We are a team and if our team breaks, we are simply people. People that cannot win individually. I do not want someone charging to their death."_

"_It's not gonna happen 'cause this is going to go without a hitch," Seifer's deep voice replied. _

_Squall nodded. "You guys are my family, I don't know what I'd do without you. We aren't saving the world from blowing up. If this mission is too dangerous I'm pulling us out."_

"_Don't be so dramatic," Selphie tried to joke but she still sounded solemn. _

_Squall half smirked. "Fine, then before I make a complete pussy out of myself. Let's just go, get that bastard, and come back."_

_Everyone nodded but no one said a word. _

"_Heads in."_

_I watched as everyone stepped forward to each other and I quickly followed their actions. We all got in a huddle and touched our heads together. I felt arms warp around me and my body reacted before my mind could. I put my arms around the waists of the people next to me. _

_Everyone tightened their hold on each other. We just stayed like this for a little bit. Not long so it wasn't weird. And you know what, it wasn't weird. I knew this group went through more things than most ever did. They were beyond close with each other and nothing they ever did together seemed 'gay' or 'weird'. It just seemed…right. _

"_Our lady of victory." Squall whispered. _

"_Pray for us." Everyone said unison. _

It was a strange moment to see everyone so serious. I figured they didn't do this every time they went out. In fact I know they didn't. I once saw Zell and Irvine go to just take care of some street scum. They were basically waved bye from the couch as they left the apartment. That meant that this must've been extremely huge.

Even though they are usually called the Saints, or Divine Retributioners, I didn't think they'd actually pray. They didn't seem like the people, but I guess when they get down to the reason why they are all together, they are quite religious. Then again I don't think they go to church or anything, they probably just say prayers when they think it's really dangerous. That's normal, I know a couple people that do that.

"That's it," Squall whispered. The first words since the prayer.

The building was a standard square apartment building. It looked a little run down. They even said that the inside might have some missing walls and other broken down shit. Yet they could have a lot of men staying in there. It was after all a gang apartment building for all its members. If things went wrong it could get very, very bad.

"Does it look like their could be a lot of security?" I asked.

We stopped at the edge of the last building before our target one. We laid low just in case and peered our eyes over the edge.

"I don't think so," He replied. "I don't even see any cameras."

"Well could they be hidden?"

"They could, but hidden cameras on a roof is hard. No walls, ceiling, plants, windows, or anything to hide them behind. If they were on this roof then they would have a bad angle. I'm guessing they don't have them to draw attention, because what apartment building has cameras on its roof. I don't even think ours does."

"Okay," I nodded and peered over the edge. "How long do you think that gap is?"

"Fifteen to Twenty feet," He replied calmly as he started extending the ladder.

He got the distance he wanted and then slowly lifted it. He rested it on the edge of the current building we were on and than started extending it. I helped hold it down cause it started getting heavier real quick. But we did it without fault and soon we had a makeshift bridge to the other building. We quickly crossed it, well _he _quickly crossed it, I took my sweet time. I didn't care if he was glaring at me from the building.

We took the ladder onto our roof just so no one would be able to see it. We crossed over the ladder at the side of the building. In the back was the parking lot, where a car just pulled up. To our left was the front of the building and the main street, where every once-in-a-while a lone car would drive by.

When the ladder was safely laid down on our current roof Squall looked across the parking lot. Irvine was concealed there. I don't know if Squall could see him 'cause I sure couldn't. Squall made a hand gesture and I saw a shadowy figure move slightly. There was a red dot that flashed twice very briefly.

"JR just arrived," Squall translated for me. "We'll wait here for a bit more, just to make sure he's in there and on the phone. It will keep him distracted."

So that is what we did. We stayed on the ground and didn't say a word. We listened to the hum of the electric circuit boxes and telephone poles. We could here the cold wind blow over us. That was the other thing. It wasn't warm up here, it was freezing. We had to wear the janitor outfits so they weren't very warm either. But we did have on overcoats and gloves. There was also a bag Squall was carrying. I believed it held the Tosser – as it was deemed – in it.

After what felt like forever we slowly made our way over to the door. Checking for any security we might've missed. There was none of course; I mean why would Squall ever be wrong.

When we got to the door Squall examined the lock for a moment. He pulled out his little lock pick tools from the bag he had with him. It took him about a minute to open the door. We went inside and shut it behind us.

We quickly began taking off our winter clothing to just have the janitor uniforms on. We stayed in the corridor for a little while warming up. It wasn't heated but without the breeze it was all we needed. We couldn't look like we were all cold and red if we were on the top floor. That wouldn't make much sense. Something I'd never think about, but Squall thinks of it as easily as someone might think to ask if their guest wants sugar in their coffee.

When we finally warmed up enough we made our way down. We walked normally now. But I remember the guys telling me to get a floor down first before acting completely normal. It would be strange for workmen to be on the top floor when it was barely finished.

That was also true, the place was run down. The paint was peeling off the walls in the hallway. Some doors were missing and tarps were put up. Some light bulbs were bare just hanging from the ceiling. Plastic was filling gaps in the ceiling as well. It wasn't anything I'd ever want to live in. Can't believe people survive in this at all. Probably has mold all in the walls and whatnot. Whoever lives in these are the lowest of the low.

"Reminds me of my first apartment in Deling," Squall randomly decided to start a nice conversation to make me feel bad.

I mumbled not wanting to reply.

We made it down the next floor and now we started hearing some noise. It was extremely late but that didn't mean everyone was asleep.

"If a guy walks past you and he looks mean, then look a little timid of him," Squall gave me some last minute advice. "Let them think you are scared to be where you are, because that will most likely be how anyone maintenance person here is like."

We turned a corner, I had no idea where we were going but it seemed Squall did. I almost froze when we turned that corner however. When we did there were two men talking walking towards us. I stiffed naturally. They didn't notice though, actually they didn't really notice us at all. They simply walked by without caring about us in the least.

"No one ever looks at a low life maintenance worker," Squall smirked liking the fact his plan was working perfectly so far.

We finally made it down to the seventh floor. We passed a couple people but no one even looked at us. Well actually one or two did, but it wasn't in curiosity. It was simply waiting for me to walk by and check out my ass. No matter where I go, it always happens. Damn perverts.

Squall led me to a door and stood there for a moment. He glanced left and right to see we were alone in the hallway. So far this building didn't really seem to crowded. Then again maybe they were out causing havoc, or simply sleeping in their beds. Either way I knew this was the door, and behind it was J.R.

Squall gave me a quick look over. "You know your role."

I nodded.

"Well then," He surprisingly smiled. "We have a meeting to attend."

He took a couple steps back and then charged the door. He rammed his shoulder into it causing the simplistic lock to shatter. He skillfully caught the door before it banged into the wall to stop a booming noise that may have woke people. I darted into the room after him and shut the door.

I turned around in time to see J.R's wide eyes staring at Squall charging. J.R was sitting behind a desk and jumped to his feet. The phone was still next to her ear. Squall planted on hand on the desk as he vaulted over it. Squall grabbed the phone and slammed it down while simultaneously kicking J.R in the stomach.

J.R stumbled back and tried to pull a gun out but Squall was too quick. He darted forward at the man with incredible speed. Squall grabbed his arm as he brought the gun up. With a twist and turn the gun was yanked out of J.R.'s hand. Squall elbowed J.R. in the face and then reached his foot behind his. J.R. fell to the ground and Squall quickly jumped on him. He pulled back and landed a punch square in his noise. He did it once more landing it in the side of his head. In the soft spot, and it knocked the murderer out in seconds.

"The bag," Squall urged not even out of breath.

I shook myself out of amazement. I grabbed the bag and tossed it to him. He quickly grabbed the main item out of it. The Tosser. He took the drill out as well. He took the wire out of the front of the tool and held it up. I hurried over and grabbed it. I began wrapping it around J.R as he drilled the Tosser to the floor.

"Make sure it's tight," Squall told me. "If he splats on the pavement this was pointless."

"Relax," I growled, "It's tight."

When he was done he stood up and walked over to the unconscious man. He dragged him over to the window.

"Why is it called the Tosser?" I suddenly asked flicking the switch on, "Not like, the Repeler."

Squall smirked, "'Cause you simply _toss_ them out the window."

That's exactly what he did. He threw J.R. out the window. The steel cord tightened. Squall drilled the contraption to the floor in an angle to the window. So the cord was in the corner of the window causing the body to go down not in direct sight of the window. Sure maybe an arm might pass by lower windows. But most of the body would stay between the two columns of windows. If someone looked hard enough, we would be caught definitely. But they ensured me that was rare for someone to be staring out their window at a parking lot.

"Press the green button," He ordered.

I followed his command and the contraption slowly began letting more cord out.

"Rinoa come here," Squall called me to the window with a finger.

I walked over wondering what it was about.

"Watch how well our team works," Squall told me smiling obviously proud of his team. "Irvine will take out the two guards sitting in the parking lot. It will be obviously if anyone drives in but once we have the body out it won't matter."

As I peered into the darkness. I saw as the two guards standing at a wall just having a conversation suddenly drop. The second one to get hit barely had time to even look shocked before a bullet dug in his head. Their bodies slowly slid down the frost-covered wall. They looked like they were both just sitting on the ground resting their backs.

They told me that they would do this before and I thought it was dangerous. Yet they told me it was the safest way, which really mean it was the only way. If anyone else needed to come for those guards than we would be fucked. That's why Irvine scouted this place the past couple days. When its dark and cold out, no one comes and checks on the guards. Who would want to? It's freezing out.

So we should be good.

A car pulled into the driveway with its lights off. That was the car Selphie was driving. There were enough lights from the building to see the parking lot enough. We didn't need to send car lights into the building to attract attention. Selphie pulled up right underneath our window. Seifer quickly got out of the car and stood underneath J.R. The trunk popped open on the car and he just stood their waiting.

J.R was about ten feet to the ground. We were almost done; once he was out we could just turn and leave through the roof. Then we'd all be safe. We were so close, I could almost taste the celebratory wine we're gonna have back at the apartment. Another plan going off without a hitch. Another reason why the Saints were beyond amazing. My first mission would be a complete success. Maybe they would let me go on more missions. Anything's possible right?

Sadly lady luck was not with us. She was probably getting fucked.

The Tosser suddenly stopped releasing cord. Squall and me shared a worried look. He hurried back over to the tool and pushed the green button again. Nothing happened. He pulled on the wire and it wouldn't budge.

I peered down at Seifer to see him waving his concern. I held my hand out holding up a finger for one second. I don't know if he could see it but Irvine could and he could then make the correct signs to Selphie whose current job is to watch Irvine. Just like I predicted a second later Selphie got out of the car and ran over to Seifer and said something to him. I could tell from here he looked pissed.

I turned back to Squall. "Squall you gotta do something."

"Fuck, I know. Lady lucks getting fucked right now."

It wasn't the time to smile given the current situation but I found it amusing we thought the same.

He pushed the red button. The tool started to reverse and I felt my hopes skyrocket once again. He pushed the green button to get it going forward again but it wouldn't. He flicked it off and it didn't stop either.

The Tosser, or Shitter really, now was stuck in reverse. The body was on its way back up. We were royally fucked.

Squall hissed and pulled out his handgun. He put the tip on the cord and let out one single shot. A single shot that did disconnect the cord. A single shot that dropped the body fifteen feet to Seifer whose reactions were fast enough to catch it. A single shot that was able to put the plan back in motion. A single shot that just woke up everyone on our floor, the floor above us, and the floor below us.

"Rinoa things have changed, "Squall urgently told me. He walked over to the window and looked out towards where Irvine would be. He made his two fingers into scissors and cut the open air. Second he held up one finger and twirled it in a circle. Then he punched his open palm. Next he had his index finger and middle finger walk on the palm. After that he swung his hands over each other like an umpire calling 'safe' in baseball.

He then darted away from the window and grabbed the desk. I stood there just grabbing my mother's necklace as I watched him pull the desk over in front of the door. There was a cabinet in the corner of the room he pulled it over as well. He leaped up onto the desk and moved the ceiling tile over. He looked at me and held out his hand.

"Quickly."

I snapped out of my little daze and rushed over to him. He pulled me up on the desk and then helped push me into the ceiling. Now wasn't the time but I couldn't help feel slightly hot when his hand touched my ass helping me up. He then leaped up on his own using his upper body strength. He replaced the tile and then we were on our way. He put a finger to his mouth singling silence.

I could hear footsteps and shouts.

"Was that a gun!"

"Yeah it came from the calling room!" Another shouted.

"J.R was in their wasn't he?" Another asked.

"The door's stuck!"

"They locked themselves in!" I heard pounding. "Open up! J.R! You there?"

I felt my shoulder tapped and I saw Squall urging me with his eyes to get a move on. I followed but my mind was on the fact of how ingenious Squall was. He barricaded the door to make it think like we were trying to keep them out. So when they try to get in there, we were sneaking away through the ceiling tiles.

After a couple minutes Squall picked up a title and dropped into the room. He stood under it and I dropped into his arms. He put me down and hurried to the door. He laid on the floor and put his head to the ground. Listening for vibrations? Maybe looking under the crack?

"Do you have your gun?" Squall quietly asked.

"Y-yes." I didn't mean to stutter it just caught me off guard.

"Get it out but don't shoot unless you have to." Squall cursed under his breath, probably heard something. "We gotta go."

I know what is crossing everyone's mind. Don't we have silencers; why not just take them all quietly out? Well for one, in close quarters, silences are still loud. Second, shoot too much and they wear out, and getting silencers I guess are harder to get than an actual gun. Because no normal civilian needs a silencer for a shooting range. That can be bad sometimes. But the third and real honest reason. They are heavy and when you don't practice with them, i.e. me. Then your shot can be really off.

So long story short, Squall will be using a silencer but we don't want to resort to killing people. It causes us to run low on ammo, which we don't have much to begin with. So if we do have to shoot and run out of ammo, we will be trapped. Also leaving a trail of bodies is pretty obvious, and you can't quickly hide blood like bodies. That is why this is so dangerous of a job. Because we are severely disadvantaged.

Squall went into the hall and I followed quickly. He jogged quietly down the hall and ducked into another room. I followed him and he stayed there for a moment. He darted to the window and looked outside. He then hurried back to the door.

"Stay close with me," He told me again.

Like I'd go anywhere else. But I figured the time to argue was not now.

And like that, we were in the hallway again. Dashing down, I was just wondering if we'd actually run into someone when two armed men darted out of a room. They almost tripped over each other when they saw us. Squall held out his weapon towards them and I was quick to follow. They pulled theirs up as well and we were in a stand off.

"Who are you?" One asked.

"When nights comes, we strike," Squall smirked.

"What the fuck," The other said with a thick Centra accent. "Answer the fucking question you cunt."

"We come from the ground, and you end in the ground." Squall said again.

I honestly had no idea what the fuck he was talking about. I was starting to get extremely frightened however. Actually I was already beyond frightened. Two guns were pointing at me and I wasn't naïve enough to know we could stand here forever. Soon someone else would come and then we'd be fucked.

"Boss?" I asked just in case we got out of this I didn't want to use his name.

"We strike fast, and run fast."

Okay he lost it. I would just have to do this myself. Maybe I could shoot one. The one aiming at Squall, then if I ducked the one aiming at me would miss. I would shoot him from the ground. Yeah, that might work. It would be close but we had to act. We couldn't just stand here.

Okay on three. One…Two…

Then the lights cut out. I felt my legs swept out from beneath me and the gunfire went off lighting up the hallway. The flashes from the guns were bright white. I felt Squall's arm across my stomach so he'd know where I was. Then the fire stopped and I felt him grab my shirt and pull me off the ground.

The hallway lit up red from emergency lights. He sprinted down the hallway and I followed him as close as possible.

"What the fuck Heartily," He growled, "Didn't you get my hints?"

Hints? _When night comes, we strike_. When the lights go off, attack. _We come from the ground, you end on the ground._ Duck and shoot like hell. _We strike fast, and run fast._ Once again, attack then get the hell out of there.

Damn he really did leave me hints.

"How'd you know the lights would go off?" I had to ask.

"I told Irvine to tell Seifer to cut the power," He answered quickly.

When he snipped his fingers to Irvine. It was a signal to cut the power. Damn they are amazing. That is unbelievable. Squall knew back in the room that we'd need the lights out. Maybe he really does know exactly what we have to do to get out of here.

I watched as he broke glass with his elbow and then yanked a small sized axe off a wall. I think it was for fire purposes. I mean I know they have fire extinguishers. A little weird to have axes on the wall. I wasn't really complaining now.

Squall pulled me into another room. He spun around in the room looking all around. He closed his eyes and started walking to a wall. He put his hands on it and then slowly walked to the back wall. There were no windows in this room, and it was extremely dark.

"Squall-"

"Quiet!"

I would say sorry but I know he didn't want to hear it. I just watched him curious to what he was doing. When he tapped a wall he smiled. I could see it through the darkness. He brought the axe back and then slammed it into the wall. After a couple of hits the wall started to crumble. It was just plaster so he began picking apart with his hands. When it was big enough, he stepped into it and ushered me to follow.

I stepped in and we were literally walking between the fucking walls.

"How do you know where we're goin'?" I asked so quietly I wasn't sure if he heard it.

"What do you think I was doing in my room," He answered coolly obviously hearing me.

"You memorized the blueprints?" I grabbed his shoulder and forced him around. "There was like pages and pages."

He looked me sternly in the eyes. "Yes but it came in handy didn't it. Now stop wasting time, no more talking unless necessary. Just stay close."

Once again that was unbelievable. Those blueprints where as complex as any building. I could barely understand them as it was. He managed to memorize the entire building, even in between walls. That is utterly impressive, extraordinarily remarkable, tremendously astonishing, and fucking ridiculous with a capitol 'F' in fuck.

We stayed in the walls for a while and then he suddenly stopped. He must've been keeping count in his head, which was beyond impressive. Especially since he also memorized twists and turns. Not to mention this was all in the pitch black.

He punched through a wall and then jumped out quickly. I watched him spin around to make sure no one was there. He couldn't be subtle this time; if anyone was there he'd have to take them by quick surprise. Luckily no one was there.

He made the hand motion for me to come out and I did. Even though we were moving a lot we didn't even get off the same floor, which even I knew was dangerous.

Squall must've been reading my mind cause the very next place we ended up where right outside the stairs. We could hear someone coming down the end of the hall so we quickly barged into the stairs hallway. There was another man coming up them, maybe only a yard away. Squall quickly raised his gun but the man swung his arm across knocking the gun out of his hands.

Squall then raised the axe he still had with him. Squall swung it strongly but the man caught his arm and the blade stopped a foot away from his head. The man put his gun to Squall's chest but Squall grabbed it with his free hand. He slammed it against the railing causing the weapon to drop down the gap between.

I was pressed against the wall trying to calm my heart down. The man scared me just popping out of nowhere. Squall fighting the guy didn't help either.

Squall chucked the axe so he could have a second free hand. With it he grabbed the man and held him strongly. He attempted to tip him over the railing. The man saw it coming and tried the same on Squall. A horrorifying thought crossed my mind when I saw Squall being out matched. Squall changing his tactic in an instant jumped over the railing dragging the man with him.

I screamed thinking they were going all the way down. However they both made the gap and landed on the stairs going down the other side. They landed hard and started rolling down them. Grunts could be heard as they toppled down the stairs. They crashed into the wall and Squall shifted himself behind the man and wrapped his arm around his neck. He began trying to choke the guy but the thug was still stronger.

I saw Squall's silenced gun and grabbed it along with the axe. I ran down the stairs and stood watching them. It was a sight that caught me off guard. It was terrifying. Seeing a man being chocked to death. His face turning red and his teeth clenched. He was literally fighting for his life and he wasn't going to five up. He began elbowing Squall in the side.

"Rinoa!" Squall shouted waking me up.

"You want me to shoot him?" I asked dumbly.

"Only if it doesn't inconvenience you."

I ignored the wisecrack and took aim. People usually take this whole time to talk about their first kill. If they could pull the trigger or not. Afraid it would haunt them. Well not me, I squeezed that trigger rather easily and watched as the bullet dug into his chest. He lost all his strength and even though the bullet didn't kill him. Squall choking him sure did.

Squall pushed him off and stood up. He grabbed my arm and shoved me against the wall. "If you hesitate again, I'm leaving you. And keep in mind, the bullet could've went through and hit me. Take it from the side. Just be happy this guy was on the heavier side."

"Sorry," I mumbled. What? Did he really expect me to kill and fight so easily?

He took his gun and axe back and fixed his hair a bit. He stood their catching his breath.

"You know Squall," I started making sure I looked him in the eye. I wasn't going to be that scared girl that looks at the ground. "I'm new at this. I'm sorry, I might not be good. But yelling at me will only cause me to get jumpy."

He sighed. "Fine. You're right, but you can see why I might lose my temper."

I nodded.

"You did good don't worry," He told me although it didn't seem sincere. He probably realized he can't have me freaking out now and wanted to keep me happy.

"Let's get going." He said starting to make his way back up the stairs.

The door slammed into the wall above us and we heard voices. "Check the roof!"

"I can't believe we can't find them!"

"Who took him?"

"Weren't there two maintenance people in the building?"

"Shit," Squall cursed quietly. "Quickly downstairs."

We hurried down them as fast as we possible could while Squall explained the plan.

"If we get to the bottom floor we can sneak out the front door. It's dangerous but I doubt they'll be looking for that. It will be the only door not alarmed anymore probably either. Across the street there is a dumpster. You climb on that and jump to an escape ladder. Then jump over a fence. It will be close but once we're over that we are good. We'll be hidden from cars and people."

"That's far away," I responded. I glanced at a passing door to see forth floor.

A door below us slammed into the wall. "Hurry they found something on the roof!" We heard.

Squall didn't even have to tell me to go into the door for the third floor. He dashed down the hallway. I followed as quickly as possible. I figured he would be trying to get to the other side of the building. If this building were normal in anyway there would be another staircase. It was risky running like this but I bet most aren't on the third floor.

Once again, I was mistaken.

Two men popped around the corner just as we reached it. Not surprisingly I froze up again and not surprisingly Squall didn't. He brought up his left hand, which held his gun, and shot one man in the head. He fell like a rock and the other raised his gun against Squall. The brunette swung the axe up from underneath and caught him right in the armpit.

The axe dug in and the man screamed. Squall yanked it out and catching him in the ribs with it before ripping it out one last time and hacking him in the head with it. The man dropped and the axe was still in his head as he did. There were like juices and shit leaking out of the giant gash in his head.

Before I could think I found myself leaning against a wall puking my guts out. As usual my body began shaking and I found my knees getting weaker.

"Rinoa?"

"Damn it Squall!" I shouted.

"What?"

"Why'd you have to fucking butcher the guy?" Tears were starting to come to my eyes.

"He had a gun," Squall deadpanned.

"You didn't have to hack him with your axe." I slid down to the floor not being able to stand anymore.

Squall twisted the weapon in his hand. "It's more of a hatchet really."

"Holy fuck I don't care," I yelled holding myself.

Squall lost his little sarcastic attitude when he saw me completely fold upon myself.

"Rinoa come on let's go," He said gently.

"I'm scared…really scared."

"It's over now," He held out his hand.

"I'm really scared," I looked up at him with tears in my eyes. "Don't leave me, I'm sorry if hesitate."

He knelt down at my level. "I won't leave you, just stay close."

He grabbed my arm and slowly pulled me up. He turned to walk away and I quickly grabbed his arm with my hand. He nodded at me and began walking again. I kept my head down at the floor just thinking about keeping my hand on his arm. It made me feel safer, more secure. I just wanted to get out of here and go home.

"Rinoa we're almost out of here," He reassured me. "We'll go down another two floors and then just make a run for it. At night running full speed, we should be able to get away."

"If I can't make it…will you stay with me?"

"Yes Rinoa," He looked over his shoulder at me. "I won't leave you here."

We made it to the other stairs and hurried down them. I got a little better. I wasn't holding onto Squall's arm anymore. I kept as close as possible though. Not like there was time for me to collapse. This whole situation was keeping my mind racked and busy. We were going slower now, checking each corner carefully. We didn't see anyone else. Squall still held the hatchet even though he said no more. Then again I guess from a tactical perspective that would be a really good weapon.

But then I saw salvation, the front doors. There were only a couple people at them too. I know Squall could take them all out and we could make a mad dash. It was risk but it would only get worse. They might call backup if they had to. I figure they didn't want to alert higher-ups unless absolutely necessary.

"We'll sneak up as close as we can." Squall said.

They weren't facing us at all. They were peering outside incase they saw anything.

"Just walk slowly and when I start shooting, run."

I nodded and we both stepped out from behind the corner. We walked towards them and he lifted his gun. I kept mine holstered inside my maintenance uniform. I could feel it touching my side. Tapping me as if asking me to pick it up and shoot. But I know I wouldn't hit anyone on the run and maybe the silencer would really make all the difference here.

"Now." Squall said and started rifling off bullets.

Of course the bullets hit dead on the mark. The men went down and the door was open for us to make a break for it. I felt my legs carry me like never before. I was pumping them and leaped over the bodies without hesitation. I saw Squall out of the corner of my eye pass me. He pointed forward at the alley he was talking about before. I heard shouts behind me but I didn't look back. I kept my feet moving. I was getting over that wall, I was getting out of her, I was not going to fucking die.

Squall was in front and he was getting some distance. I tried to run faster but I was already beyond my usual speed. He took a giant leap onto the dumpster and jumped onto half an escape ladder that was hanging down.

Now lady luck must've really been enjoying her little fuck 'cause she was still not with me. My toe, yes my _toe, _hit the curb because I didn't lift my foot high enough. That meant I jammed my previously broken toe. That meant I screamed bloody murder as I collapsed to the ground. Oh but lady luck was really and I mean really getting her brains racked that night. When I fell my foot didn't get out of the way and I fell on it weird as well. Virtually twisting it in some way.

So current status of my get-a-way. In pain lying on the dirty cold sidewalk while Squall was halfway to safety. I looked back at the apartment to see men charging at us. They weren't outside yet but they would be here soon. I tried to get up, I put weight on my foot but it couldn't take it and I fell once again. I felt terror rise up in me. I felt the fear that people must feel when they are about to die. I clawed at the ground to try and get to the alley. Maybe pull myself over the ten-foot wall.

I pushed with my knees and elbows. My hands my arms, anything I could. I felt them scrape and start to lose skin but I didn't care. I had to get out of there. I looked back to see a couple guys just leave the building. All they had to do was cross the street and they had me.

"You fucking idiot." And I heard gunshots and saw the men fall that were crossing the street.

Squall slid behind me. He outstretched his feet around me and pulled me so I was leaning against him. He slipped his ammo clip out and it fell on my lap. In the time I looked down at that clip back up, he already had another clip in the gun. He started shooting once again and I found my strength with him there. I raised my gun and began shooting at anyone I could see.

Some were sticking out of windows but most were charging from the bottom floor. Some jumped out windows on the bottom floor and some came from the sides that lead to the parking lot. There were even some on the roof just watching. They were all over, but I kept shooting.

My clip went dry and I pulled another one from inside my jumpsuit. I slipped it in the gun and started once again. I didn't even know if I killed anyone. I just felt the power in the gun. I felt myself feel more courage as I riffled the bullets off.

But even so they were still coming. There was no way we were getting out of it. And my little brief moment of tremendous courage sank. It sank far below my fear and terror that soon rose back to the surface of my brain. I found myself trying to push Squall back once again to try and get him moving.

"Rinoa we aren't getting away," Squall told me knowing what I was trying.

"We still can," I begged.

He shook his head and was firing the whole time. "Rinoa stay strong, we'll get through this. Keep your mind and don't give up. I'm not gonna leave you."

"Squall! Come on we can go!"

He seemed a little worried but definitely held it better than me. "Rinoa whatever you do don't tell them anything. You've been through training just for this moment. You can do it, I know you can."

I felt shivers rise within me. We were going to be tortured, that's what that meant. I was going to have to go through all that again. I can't do that. Not again.

I tried to wrestle my way past to keep crawling. But Squall held me tight with one hand.

"Rinoa if you lose your mind you'll kill us all," Squall was firing this whole time but I knew he wasn't keeping them all away.

"I can't stay calm." I made the mistake of looking back at the apartment. They were hiding behind cars and could easily cross the street whenever Squall changed his ammo.

"_Saint Michael, Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil." _It was a prayer, Squall was praying._ "We humbly pray by the power of God, thrust into Hell Satan and the other evil spirits who prowl the world for the ruin of souls."_

His shots stopped firing and he slipped the clip out. The men were already halfway across the street. He reached in for another clip but he must've been out. I slipped my hand onto my clips and quickly slid it in his gun. He had enough time to smirk at me but that was it.

The last thing I saw was a butt of a semi-auto smash into his face. 'Cause right after that I felt a heavy blow to the back of my head and I soon saw blackness.

* * *

**Thanks to my beta Fallout1990 once again. This chapter originally had quite a few mistakes. They are now gone, thanks to him**.


	11. Escape

**Rinoa's POV**

**December twentieth**

"_Rinoa! Come here for a second!"_

"_Yes daddy." I said walking into his study. I was watching Blue's Clues so I was mad I had to leave but I remembered my dad always made sure I came when called. It was one of the biggest rules in the house. _

"_Honey I want you to meet a friend of Daddy's," Caraway gestured to the big man standing next to him. "This is Mr. Capella."_

"_Hello Mr. Capella." I did a little cute curtsy in my dress. Something my dad made sure I did whenever someone was over. _

"_Well hello dear," He leaned down low to my height. "Aren't you a pretty little girl."_

"_Yup," I nodded eagerly. "Daddy says I'm the prettiest."_

"_And I stand by that," Caraway joked laughing. "Mr. Capella is daddy's new friend and I want you to know if you ever need something. Mr. Capella says it's alright to ask him."_

"_Really?" I said happily. _

"_Yes," Capella chuckled. "I'd do anything for a pretty little princess."_

_I giggled even though I wasn't sure what was going on. _

I didn't know since I was so young. But my dad just partnered up with Capella and I guess he was telling me our families were friends. I guess maybe he was hoping I'd like to get closer with Capella's people as I grew up. I don't know, I never could understand my father. I just understood he's the cause for everything that's happened to me in my life. Like right now.

My head was hazy. It swayed back and forth no matter how hard I tried to keep it straight. I was in a daze, where I knew what was going on but I just couldn't exactly piece it together. My eyelids felt heavy and I wished I could just keep them shut. But the way I was being handled it wasn't possible. I felt my hands being handcuffed to the chair I was sitting in. They were tied so tight it hurt but that was to be expected.

I managed to lift my head enough to get a glimpse of Squall sitting across from me. He didn't look much better off than me. His head looked just as heavy as he could barely lift it. Then suddenly I saw as they dumped a bucket of water on him. He instantly grew ridged and I knew it was going to happen to me next. As expected they dumped the freezing cold water on me and I strained against the chair.

It woke me up completely. My head still hurt like hell but my senses were in full swing now. This only let me completely comprehend where I was now. In some damp room that only had one light. Squall and I were both handcuffed tightly to chairs facing each other. Squall had two men behind him and I'm sure I had two behind me.

So of course this is where I begin to slightly freak out. I struggle in my chair and I begin to breathe faster. I whipped my head back and forth real fast as if it will help. The usual things you do when you are about to be tortured.

I looked over at Squall to see him sitting there completely calm but staring at me. I knew he was trying to send me a message. More than likely it was to sit back and keep still and the more I kept my eyes on Squall. The easier it was to relax. I found myself regaining my composure just by keeping eye contact with Squall.

At this point I began cycling my brain for the advice they gave me on being tortured. First was obviously don't tell them anything. The second was to rely and play off your partner if they are there with you. Which Squall was. Third was to not lose your cool and try to stay in control of the whole situation. Forth was a little more worrisome. If there isn't a chance of getting out of their alive, then just piss them off to the point where you can die happy. I still had trouble with the forth rule.

I heard a door open and everyone's eyes shifted to my right, so I figured that's where it was. Squall's eyes didn't leave mine however. He mouthed something to me as well.

_Follow my lead._

I nodded very subtly but everyone's attention was on the door. Or rather the large man that walked in it.

He was definitely had a strong Centra bloodline. He was fat and short, with a balding spot starting to form. He wore kaki-plated slacks with suspenders that went over his stripped shirt. He left the top couple buttons undone and had a gold chain around his neck. He wore a couple gold rings on his short stubby fingers. A giant cigar was puffing out the side of his mouth. Stuffed in the front of his pants was a large magnum revolver.

Capella.

He stood between us and looked back and forth. He took the cigar out of his mouth and took a breath.

"Let's make this quick and simple." He started out and his Centrian accent could easily be heard. "Why were you in my building? Where's my man you kidnapped? Who else are you working with?"

"Whoah, whoah," Squall shook his head. "Slow down you lost me."

I tried to keep my mouth shut. Squall was already starting to pick a fight with them. I swear I thought the man was going to blow steam out his ears.

Capella leaned down close to Squall's face. "Don't fuck with me."

"Kidnapping your man wasn't fucking with you?"

Capella waited a second before backhanding him across the face. "You think this is funny."

"Actually I don't." Squall replied calmly. "I'm a little pissed I'm tied to a chair right now."

"It's your fault," Capella punched Squall square in the face. "Now where is my man?"

"Ow." Squall shook his head. "Look that isn't the question to be asking."

"Oh it's not," Capella punched him in the face again. "Okay then wise guy, what is?"

"Stop punching me before I blackout again," Squall shook off the punch again. "And the real question is, why the fuck am I in this basement! Everything was going according to plan until this little bitch mess it up!" Squall yelled.

Little bitch…was that me? Oh shit I think it is. Everyone looked at me and I knew this was my time to say something.

"Are you fucking kidding me!" I screamed back. "How is this my fault?"

"Because you couldn't run!" Squall yelled.

"Hey shut up!" Capella yelled. "You two obviously aren't the leaders of your little team."

"Yeah I'm not," Squall growled. "Or I never would've let this prostitute join us."

"I am hired entertainment!" I screamed not really thinking too much into what I was saying. Just letting it fly before I over thought. "I didn't even have sex with everyone costumer."

"Yeah right," Squall shouted back. "When the boss offered you a job you saw a man in power and wanted his balls."

"Oh fuck off!"

"Shut up!" Capella yelled.

"Tell him to." I retorted.

Capella punched me in the face and he did it again and again and again. I felt blood gush out my nose. My head got dizzy again and it took a moment for me to regain my focus.

"I said shut up." Capella looked between the both of us. "Now let me ask you again. Where is your hideout?"

"That's a new question dumbass." I spat.

I got slapped around once again…worth it. I just had to act like it wasn't. And by now I think I knew what Squall was trying to do. Or at least I hope I did. Otherwise I was trying to set up the wrong plan with him. Which could be deadly for both of us.

"Damn it just tell him!" I screamed.

"Shut the fuck up!" He screamed back.

"Tell me what," Capella leaned close to me.

"Where that dude is," I answered.

"Well…tell me," He pressed.

"I don't know, I'm not told anything."

"How can you not be told anything?"

"Because she's a whore," Squall explained. "She doesn't get told anything because she'll betray. She likes dicks with money and power."

"Shut up!" I yelled past the fat man.

Squall titled his head back. "I guarantee she will fuck you silly right now if you let her."

I didn't miss the eyebrow raise Capella did. I was right about the plan. Squall was trying to convince them I was just some prostitute. Then they might not question me at all since I didn't know anything. There was also a chance that they might take me out of the room to 'do me'. Which then I would make my move and hopefully bust us out of here. We just had to make sure it would work.

"You have to know something," Capella turned back to me. "One little piece of information and I'll let you go."

"Look I promise you," I looked him right in the eye. I let out a breath like I was getting turned on slightly. "If I knew anything, anything, I'd tell you. But then again…I wouldn't 'cause maybe I don't wanna leave. You guys seem to be strong."

"Ha see!" Squall exclaimed. "She just wants your dick and money!"

"Shut him up!"

A man grabbed Squall by the neck and proceeded to choke him.

Capella turned back to me. "I could let him die right now, would you care."

"Not in the least," I said with hesitation. "I like the strong, if he dies he's obviously not strong. Unlike you."

"Oh yeah," Capella chuckled. "I'm not dumb, I know you would run as soon as you could."

I tried not to look worried but I could see Squall was running low on air. He began struggling against his chair, practically shaking uncontrollably. His face was turning red and true fear was showing in his eyes. He let out little groans that were getting quieter and quieter.

"I'd never leave because you are the best right." I tipped my head down to try and get some hair to cover my face on. "Come on, fuck that guy over there…then fuck me."

Capella stared at me for a moment, just staring a few inches away. It was creepy as hell but I wasn't going to say anything. I was getting scared for Squall. In another moment I wasn't sure if I would be able to keep acting and not yell _stop._

Luckily Capella waved his arm and his goon let Squall go. Squall immediately took a giant breath and began coughing.

"The fuck man." Squall wheezed.

Capella backed up. "Here's what's going to happen." He pointed at Squall. "My men are going to beat the living shit out of you. You will be bleeding, crying, and pissing all over the place in a matter of minutes. You'll lose your fingers, your eyes, your ears. Anything it fucking takes to get the answers out of you."

He spun around to me. "You will come with me to my room."

"Oh goody." I disgust myself in situations like these.

"Oh you big slut!" Squall yelled. "Yeah you go get the shit fucked out of you again. Fuck the boss for ever letting you join the team."

The goons took my handcuffs off and I blew Squall a kiss. "Sucks to be you."

I turned to leave only to take a strong fist in the chest. I double over forward and leaned on the guy that hit me.

"Don't get any ideas, women. This isn't going to be enjoyable for you." Capella grinned. "You are about to experience the most pain you ever have had in your life."

I couldn't even keep my cover for that. I just kept staring at the ground wondering what I was getting myself into. Capella was a fat big guy. There was no way I could over power him if I needed to. But I had to, because I knew they wouldn't hold back on Squall. In a matter of minutes he might be fingerless. I left the room and didn't look back because I didn't want to seem like I cared. But I wished I did because I needed one last look at Squall to get the courage again.

I stumbled down the hallway surrounded by guards. My ankle killed and my ribs hurt now. Not to mention along with my head, which was throbbing. They pulled me down the hall and I made mental notes on every turn and door I entered. It was a lot of turns but I saw some paintings on the wall. I realized that we were in a very elegant mansion. It didn't surprise me too much since this was a crime boss after all. Actually I hate to make the connection, but it looked like my old mansion. Which further proves the point

I was lead down a long hallway to a door and Capella dragged me in. He let me go and told something to the man right outside the door before locking it. I looked around the room to see it very lavish. Red carpeting and elegant paintings on the wall. Gold candle rods stuck out of the wall as well. He had white couches at one side of the room and a giant bed on the other. I spotted on his dresser next to his bed, a tray of food. It meant he ate his food in bed, fatass. But more importantly it might mean there was a knife on the tray.

"Okay strip," He ordered and he was already down to just his underwear.

I could've said something to postpone him but that was the opposite of what I wanted to do. I needed this to start fast and so I could get back to Squall. I did as told and dropped all my closes except my underwear.

"Don't stop there bitch," He grinned evilly.

I smiled seductively back at him even though I hated this. I dropped my bra and so I stood just in my panties. Yes I was topless now, but if that's what it would take to get out of here then that's what I was willing to do. I took a glance at the tray as I got closer to the bed. There was a knife, a rather large one too. It should do the trick. I saw his gun was lying on the ground next to his pants.

Perfect.

I strutted over to him and before he could protest about the panties I crashed my mouth onto his. And oh my fucking god it was disgusting. His mouth was dry and ashy from the cigar. He had so much chest hair I thought my fingers would get caught in it. Not to mention my hand disappeared into his gut. But the worst was his hands. They found me and they squeezed hard.

I let out a gasp in pain.

"Oh you like it huh?" He whispered in my ear.

"Uh huh." I managed to say back. I had to end this because I knew I wouldn't be able to take it.

I felt his hand sliding down my stomach and I knew his destination. His mouth moved to my neck which he gained access to by pulled my hair back. He didn't kiss my neck either, he bit. So I let out loud gasps for those too, which only made him chuckle. His hand was right on the lace of my panties when I decided to make my move.

I clenched a fist and jammed him hard in his manhood. He let out a yelp and reacted by punching me hard in the face. I took it and rolled out of the bed. He grabbed my arm and dug his nails into it. I pulled to reach the knife and clenched my teeth as he drew blood.

I got the knife in my hand and jumped back on the bed. I held it right at his neck and covered his mouth with my other hand. He froze and didn't make a move. I was straddling him like Squall taught him that one-day.

I leaned my face real close to him. "You'll do anything for a princess won't you." I made my voice sound so innocent and cute. "What about your princess all grown up."

He made a weird face so he obviously didn't know what I was talking about.

I just kept at it. "You've been very naughty, doing many bad things. You thought getting closer with Caraway, my father-" Oh his eyes lid up. "-would help you out. Well it only fucked you over in the end," I let a small grin grace my face. "Proper fucked that is."

He mumbled something against my hand. I didn't even care enough to try and decipher it. His eyes starting filling with so much panic. He even squirmed a little so I pressed the knife harder against his neck, just drawing a little blood.

"You think no one was watching you. God's soldiers were watching you. His saints always had their eyes on you and once I joined them. Well…let's just say it's only right for a Caraway to end a Capella."

I jammed it right in his neck. I did it again, and again. I felt the spray of the crimson hit me but I didn't care. This man caused so many deaths, including helping Caraway with Zell's family. He earned it, along with my father. I saw the life leave him and when I knew he was dead I quickly got out of the bed. I threw my bra back on.

I grabbed my jumpsuit and just pulled it on quickly. I held the knife tightly in my hand right before the door. I knew the guard was standing with his back to the door right outside. It's just what they do. I unlocked it and shoved it open as fast as possible. It hit the man on the other side and he stumbled forward onto the ground.

I dove on him bringing the knife down. He managed to catch it an inch away from his chest. He fought hard to push it away but I was leaning my whole body on it.

"Wait listen." He exclaimed.

I didn't reply except pushing harder.

"Please listen to me! Wait, Wait!" He yelled again trying to plea with me. "Stop! Stop! Stop! Wait! Come on! Please!"

It started to get to me. His eyes staring into mine with so much fear I couldn't take it.

"Shut up!" I yelled

"Please stop!"

"Be quiet!" I felt tears coming to my eyes.

"You don't have to. Just stop. Stop!"

The knife was drawing closer to him.

"Shh please be quiet."

"I have kids!" He yelled just as the knife tip reached his shirt.

"Shhh," the tears were streaming down now. "Just shut up."

The knife entered his chest and he lost his air but he still managed to gap out. "Please stop." He begged. "Please…"

"Just shut up!" I screamed. "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!"

I could feel the knife plunging deeper into him. Taking his life away. He stared right into me, pleading with his eyes for me to stop. But I couldn't. I had to keep going.

"I'm sorry," I cried as the handle stopped the knife from going any further. "I'm so sorry."

He stopped struggling and I rolled off him. I sat for a moment and wept. I could hear his begging in my head and his eyes were still staring. I might've just killed a father. Maybe he was only working here 'cause he needed some money to get his kids through school. Maybe he hated what he did. Maybe he was a completely good person.

"Oh god what did I do?" I brought my knees to my chest and put my head down.

I used the knife because I didn't want a commotion with a gun. Yet all the yelling didn't help anymore. Yet as I sat there no one came. Maybe they were all doing their own thing. They were probably more worried about Squall.

"Squall." I said his name out loud. It was like a drug. His name gave me courage and power. I pushed myself off the ground. I grabbed the dead man's gun. It was another six-shot revolver. I began stumbling back towards where the torture room was. I leaned against the wall. I found it extremely difficult to walk with my ankle and my ribs. My head wasn't a big help either especially with that one man's please echoing around.

After a long painful walk I made it back to the hallway that would lead to the single door that would lead to the single room that would lead to the single man I wanted to save. I was at the final corner. I leaned past it to see and quickly jumped back. There were two guys standing outside the door. I knew more were inside.

I wasn't even thinking coherently. I simply jumped out around the corner and shot both men square in the chest before they even saw me. I found more strength somewhere deep inside as I ran down the hallway and kicked open the door.

I saw Squall shirtless with many new cuts on him. Currently one man was holding a CD case in Squall's mouth and another dumping oil on it. His mouth wouldn't be able to close all the way and he would have to swallow the oil. When I kicked the door down they were both looking at me. I brought up the revolver quickly and riffled two bullets in each mans chest.

Squall spat the CD case out. "Rinoa thank God! Quick the man to my left has the keys."

I reacted without thinking once again. With my adrenaline back down my whole body hurt. I could barely walk. I stumbled over to the dead man and grabbed the keys in his pocket. I uncuffed Squall and stood back. He collapsed to the ground on his knees and began puking. It was jet black practically all oil. I just stood there watching him as his body removed all the toxins.

Only a moment later did he stand and wipe his mouth like nothing happened.

"Are you okay?"

What a dumb question. I shook my head.

"Rinoa I'm so sorry, but we can't stop now we gotta get out of here."

I nodded.

"We need to go," He said walking out of the room with my hand in his.

He stopped right outside the door and picked up the two guards' guns. He handed one to me and then hurried off down the hall again.

He must've noticed I could barely keep up and he stopped. He turned around and looked me in the face worried. "Rinoa how hurt are you?"

"I'm fine," I didn't even know how that got out of my mouth. "Worry about it later."

"I'll keep us safe now, I promise."

I took that promise deep in my heart because it was all I had to hold onto.

He led us to a main living room. It had a fireplace and that seemed to interest him. He quickly ran over to it and looked back at me happily. "It's gas."

"Get some magazines." He ordered. He dove inside it and messed around. I could only assume he was messing with the pipes. I looked around and found some on a tabletop. I limped over and grabbed them. I brought them to him and he took them quickly.

I watched him use the little pilot light in the back to light the magazine. He got two starting to burn and he handed them back to me. "Set one under a curtain and another on a hairy rug."

I moved over to the windows and set one down under the curtains and then into another room. There was a shaggy carpet and I placed it down on that. When I got back into the living room the curtains were already going up in flames. Squall got out of the fireplace and looked at me happily.

"This place should blow in a couple minutes," He hurried over and grabbed my hand leading me out.

We got outside and there were two guards. Squall shot them dead in a matter of seconds. He then grabbed a white stone on the ground near some bushes. He knelt down and wrote on the driveway.

Caraway…Capella…____? The wicked have been warned.

He grabbed my hand and helped me find strength to dash into the woods that surrounded the house. We kept going and didn't look back. Squall was in front of me and I tried to keep up with him but I couldn't. My body just couldn't handle it all. I collapsed to the ground and let out a loud groan.

Squall stopped in his tracks. "Rinoa?"

"I'm sorry Squall, I can't keep going like this."

Squall rushed back over to me. "Damn it Rinoa I asked how hurt you were."

"Yeah well look at you." I scowled. "You got cuts all over your body, a black eye, and you have oil coming from your mouth. Why should I complain?"

"Because you are still healing." Squall said caringly. "Rinoa don't try and be strong for me. That will get us in trouble."

"Well what do we do now?" I asked.

He smiled which caught me off guard. Then he proceeded to pick me up onto his back. I spread my legs around his torso and he held them. My arms wrapped around his neck.

"Squall you don't-"

"Yes I do," He insisted. "You can't walk so what else do you suppose we do? Besides I don't have a shirt so this helps keep me warm."

"…Fine." I rested my head on his back.

There was a large explosion behind us and he didn't even bother to turn around for us to see.

"We should get moving quickly incase the some department shows up and sees us. It wouldn't go over well."

"Do you know where we are?" I asked as he started walking again.

"Yup. There were a couple residences that we knew Capella owned. We should arrive in the city in about twenty minutes I say. Then we'll get a cab to take us back to our apartment."

"A cab, is that smart?"

Squall chuckled, "Cab drivers are just people making a living. Give them enough money and they won't ask questions."

"We don't have money."

"At the apartment we do," Squall looked over his shoulder at me. "Don't worry, this has happened before."

There was a little pause in talking. I watched the gentle snowfall in the forest. There weren't any creatures to see. It was dead night with almost no light. It would've been scary but all the white snow made it almost glow. The skinny trees were majestic with all their leaves covered and such beautiful small snowflakes that were gliding to earth from the high heavens. They landed so peacefully just fitting right into the pattern on the ground.

"Hey Rinoa,"

"Hmm." I pressed my head against his back.

"I didn't mean anything by that Caraway comment back there."

"Don't worry I know you don't think of me as a Caraway."

Squall chuckled. "You're right, I don't."

"That's good, 'cause I don't either."

There was another moment of silence as he kept walking. I tried to fix myself on him and he boosted my legs a little bit to help me.

"Don't get too comfortable." He joked.

"How come you're only nice when we get in such a cluster fuck?"

He shrugged which was entertaining for me. "I didn't do anything in so long, I was just stuck in the apartment. You know when you get stuck doing nothing you start to think, and for some reason I can only think of bad things."

"I'm sorry to hear that," I told him genuinely.

"I'm use to it. But after getting out of a situation like that don't you just feel alive." He looked over his shoulder at me. "Don't get me wrong, I'd rather that never happened. But after almost dieing you can't help but feel great that you're alive."

"So you have to almost be killed to be nice?" I giggled.

He laughed. "No honestly I've been grumpy this week 'cause I was worried about you."

"Oh yeah I could tell when you were screaming at me."

"Sorry about that, just wanted to make sure you were ready."

"Which I wasn't."

"On the contrary," He quickly replied. "You hesitated in the building but when everyone was on the line you came up to the plate swinging big."

"Really?"

Squall nodded. "Honestly, you did great."

We came out of the forest on top of a hill looking down over the city. I couldn't stop the gasp that escaped my mouth. The glistening snow could be seen falling over the city. The usually dirty dank city now looked like a metropolis. It looked like an elegant snow globe that held all the wonders and dreams of its inhabitants. This is the city people always talking about, the city of magic and opportunity. I never knew grimy Deling would ever be able to look like this. The lit up buildings just looked like pretty colored lights from here. It was truly breath taking to look at it.

"Beautiful huh?"

I nodded. "It's so pretty."

"Strange to imagine." He commented.

"Yeah, I've lived here all my life and I've never seen it like this."

"Well do you see our building," Squall pointed in a direction. "It's way over there."

"How long is it gonna take to get there?" I pouted.

"Why are you uncomfortable with me carrying you?" He joked.

"Yeah it's a bumpy ride," I played along.

"Well I'm freezing."

I rubbed my hands against him to try and warm him up. "That better?"

"Little bit."

We found a street and walked along it. Luckily a cab was driving by and we waved him down. We climbed in and the cab driver stared at us.

"Hospital?" He asked.

Squall shook his head. "Nope. EEL apartments please."

"You sure buddy?"

Squall nodded. "I'll give you two hundred gil if you take us to the EEL apartments without over thinking this."

"Done and done." He said turning around and starting the car.

I rested my head against Squall. I wasn't too surprised he didn't put his arm around me like I wanted him to. He just sat their motionless with his eyes staring off out the window. He had a strange look on his face. It held worry…but not right now. I could tell he wasn't worried about what happened. With the way he was I'm sure he was planning out what to do next week or something. He was just so smart it seemed to me.

He never hesitated. From the building when things went wrong 'till right now. The line got stuck; he only paused for a moment. When we were stuck in the halls; he planned ahead and waited for the light to turn off. The hallways were crowded; we went through the walls. When I tripped; he was right with me. When we were being interrogated; he thought up the plan. As soon as I freed him; he burned the house down.

He was beyond anything I could hope to be and as I watched him in the cab. I knew I was safe because his mind was cranking so hard and so fast. He was probably accounting for a car crash, or a highjacking, for anything that could possibly go wrong right now. I could just see it all over his face. For some reason I could recognize it.

Then something happened that worried me. He reminded me of my father. Constantly worried about everything. Always thinking to the future. Was Squall my father just on the other side of this hellish war? Where they the equal opposites in this world? My father leader of crime and evils while Squall was the king of the good left in this world. Doing everything he could to protect it even taking down the very person who he might be able to relate to.

"Squall."

"Yeah?"

"Does your mind ever stop thinking?"

He looked at me quizzically for a brief second before turning back towards the window. "No…no it doesn't."

"I'm sorry." I snuggled up closer to him.

He didn't say anything but I knew it made him feel better. I knew this because he took a breath and his eyes drifted up to the sky for a moment. I knew that look as well; it was what every dreamer in the world has ever done. I smiled because I knew for a least a brief moment I got Squall to think about something else. Something that wasn't death and destruction. Sadly his eyes went back down to look at the buildings driving by and I knew he returned to thinking about how he could save everyone. It's what he does after all.

We finally started climbing the hill to our apartment. It was a weight lifted off my shoulders. I guess I never truly relaxed until my eyes landed on our apartment. But now that they have I could finally let out a breath…and feel all the pain. It almost turned on instantly. Just everyone all at once. It wasn't unbearable. It was enough to make me grind my teeth a little. The worst was my arm because it was still bleeding from when Capella clawed me. Fat bastard.

Squall instructed the man to go down around the back. He told him once we get out to check in at the front desk for his money. This was a learning experience for me as well. Apparently our little 'family' has a fund that can be accessed at the main desk. So we literally have to never see anyone in our apartment. If we order a pizza, they can pay for it down at the desk and we just go down and pick it up. It was perfect to keep our privacy.

"Hey I really think you guys should see a doctor or something," the taxi driver suggested as we both stepped out.

"We got our own private practice, don't worry," Squall answered shutting the door.

Squall typed in a small code into the door handle and it opened. He then helped me hobble in through it. I let out a tiny hiss when his hand landed on my bloody arm. He noticed it right away and as soon as the garage door closed he turned to me.

"Rinoa?" His voice was low.

"It's nothing." I pushed past him.

He grabbed me and pulled me back. He unzipped the jumpsuit and brought it down to my elbows. It would've been a very sexual act but it wasn't in this case. His eyes were glued to the blood coming from my arm. My arm was basically red, caked with the crimson by now. I looked away slightly ashamed. I wasn't sure if it was simply because I was standing there in my bra with him holding my arms or if it was that I lied to him about how serious the bleeding was.

"Squall?" I looked over his shoulder to see Quistis standing there. "Oh my god! Guy's Squall and Rinoa are back!"

A huge rumble was heard as the whole group came running past the cars towards us. When they reached us they all stopped and stared.

"Uh…" Smartly spoken words by Irvine.

Squall turned to the gang letting me go. I pulled the jumpsuit back up immediately.

"Quistis, Selphie, get Rinoa upstairs and clean her up." His friendly tone had vanished. He was back to ordering people around. He looked around and he must've just noticed what I just did. "Where's Zell?"

"He's in the other room," Seifer jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "He lost it."

"Explain."

"J.R." Irvine answered.

Squall cursed before turning back to me. "Rinoa get upstairs."

I brushed past him and Selphie quickly chased after me. She hooked an arm around me so I could balance better. I guess Quistis was staying behind. Not surprised, probably wanted to talk to Squall about what happened. Because apparently something happened here while we were getting the shit kicked out of us.

We entered the shooting range and turned towards the elevator hallway. Sitting in that hallway was Zell. I was able to hold in the gasp that desperately wanted to escape my lips. He was covered in blood with his head in his hands. I glanced at Selphie and she shook her head. We stepped past him silently and he didn't even lift his head up to look at us. We stepped into the elevator and the doors shut. Ending the terrifying sight of the bloodied blonde.

* * *

**Squall's POV.**

I watched Selphie help Rinoa through the door.

"Squall what happened?" Quistis asked.

"We got taken, and we escaped." I answered briefly counting in my head how long it would take for Rinoa to reach the elevator.

"Come on man," Irvine put a hand on my shoulder. "You are shirtless with tons of cuts all over you."

Okay, I was pretty sure Rinoa was in the elevator by now. Didn't want her to see Zell completely crumbled again. "Okay where's Zell?"

"Just in the hallway," Seifer told me.

I let out a growl. That meant Rinoa saw him anyways. Fine, fuck, whatever. I marched my war over to the shooting range. I knew they were all behind me. I saw the small extra spare room and opened it. What my eyes saw was a man tied to a chair _literally_ beaten to death. Blood was splashed all around him. It glistened in bright light. Glistened since it was life holding, and without it. J.R. was dead.

I shut the door and made my way around the corner to Zell. He sat there with his head in his hands.

"Zell."

"I'm sorry."

I put my back against the wall and slid down. I cupped my hands on my knees.

"Did he say anything?" I asked.

Zell nodded. "I wanted to just walk in there and have him recognize me. I wanted him to realize what team I was apart of now. I thought he would get scared…but he just laughed."

Come on Zell think, the man is a pro. He isn't going to be afraid. He knew exactly how to get under your skin and it worked. Whether he wanted to die so we wouldn't torture him or maybe he thought someone would stop you. Either way it doesn't matter now, but it could matter in the future.

"Zell-"

"Squall I'm sorry!" Zell yelled. He stood up and walked over to the other wall punching it hard. "I know he got inside my head and now our lead to Capella is gone and it's all because of me and-"

"Zell relax," I stood up and he turned around. "Do you not see me? Where do you think I was? Capella is taken care of. But that doesn't mean you're in the wrong here, you just need to know you also lucked out."

"Still feel bad."

"Which is good," I replied calmly. "I would be slightly disturbed if you didn't care about what you did."

"Hm." He turned away from me.

"I'm serious Zell," I put my hand on his shoulder facing him towards me. "Zell I have you with us because I know how much you care. When you do something this wrong and take it this badly. That's all I can ask for. If you brushed this off as nothing I'd be pissed."

Zell leaned against the wall and crossed his arms looking down at the floor. "I know its just…being on this team is like being the best of the best, the top elites. I can't detach my emotion from work. I always seem to be making the mistakes, getting us in trouble. "

I chuckled a little. "That is true."

"Thanks," He slid back down to the floor.

"Zell that's who you are," I told him seriously. "You are the one who always finds the good in situations. Think about it. We got me who only sees the darkness everywhere. Seifer who just criticizes everything without any help."

Seifer shrugged, "Someone's gotta make sure you guys know you're retarded."

"Glad it's you," I remarked.

"And Irvine always just says some dumb perverted joke."

"Hey, it's not perverted, just attentive."

"Uh huh…" I turned back to Zell. "You're the one who never loses his hope in bleak situations. Remember you use to make use always go one more block this midnight street runs. Just in case there was one more person."

"So?"

"So, your emotions are what this team needs. You are a person who lives by his emotions. You have your feelings right on your sleeve. Zell, you made a mistake, learn from it and move on. You can't dwell."

Zell jumped to his feet. "You're right Squall! I can't just sit here and cry. My grandfather always told me to workout and think about my problems. That way I'm keepin' busy and I try to work my problems out. Not just sit and weep about them."

I glanced at Seifer who just shrugged. "Sure…do that."

Zell held up his hand and I grabbed it so our palms wrapped around each other's thumbs. "Thanks Squall…really."

I was happy Zell figured stuff out and I knew he would be alright. The problem now was the bloodied mess in the storage room, along with the body. That can wait for another day, we don't have to clean it up now. It will just ruin the mood I just established. Everyone was happy since Rinoa and I were back and Zell now was okay. I pressed the elevator button and they all stood next to me. As we began our climb I saw Zell get a quick pat on the back from Irvine and Seifer. It was a little gesture that meant a lot.

Ever since we started going after J.R. Zell began acting different. His mind drifted more and I knew he was always thinking about his past. I noticed he wasn't as joyful and he wasn't his usual talkative self. He just would have a simple conversation that was a necessity. He was training a lot over the past weeks two. But as I looked at him now, I knew he would be fine.

The doors slid open with the sound that is recognizable around the world as the elevator ding. I walked down the hallway briskly just wanting to hit my bed and sleep. I was beyond tired after tonight. I would deal with whatever damages to my body I had tomorrow. Along with the dead guy in our basement.

We entered our apartment to see Selphie sitting on the arm of the couch staring at us. She hopped off the couch and hurried over to me.

"Rinoa's worrying me," Selphie held herself as she spoke. "She said she wanted to take a shower but she just went right in. She didn't get extra clothes or anything, and I told her to wait a bit for me to check the damage but she didn't listen. And she won't answer when I knock."

I brushed past Selphie as I headed towards the bathroom near Rinoa's room. Everyone followed me to see what was going on. I stopped in front of the door and I could hear the water sprinkle of the shower through the door.

"Hey Rinoa," I called through the door.

There wasn't an answer.

I sighed, "Everyone leave us for a second."

"Yeah sure," Quistis said sincerely stepping in front of everyone pushing them away. "Come on people."

I waited for them to leave before I tried the doorknob. It didn't surprise me that the door was actually unlocked. I gently pushed the door open and I could see Rinoa from the hall. She sat in the tub with the water pouring on her from the showerhead. The weird part was that her jumpsuit was still on and there wasn't any steam coming from the water, meaning it was cold. She had her knees to her chest and her arms wrapped around them. When I opened the door she lifted her head up.

I stepped in and shut the door behind me. I walked over to the tub without saying a word. She watched me with sad eyes that affected me more than I expected. I kicked off my shoes and climbed in behind her. I stretched my legs around her sides and then wrapped my arms around her. She moved one of her hands to hold onto my arm around her and she leaned back into my chest. And we sat like that, for who knows how long. I just held her without saying a single word.

I got a good look at her shoulder wound that was bleeding profusely before. It wasn't so bad, it was a couple deep indents into her arm. Alone they aren't that bad together they made it look like a bigger wound. Also she just let it bleed before, now with the water washing it, it didn't look half as bad. Although they looked like nails to me, probably when she was with Capella.

The cold water pounded on us but even so it felt refreshing. The water felt pure and it was comforting in its way of washing us clean. Like when getting caught in the rain and not caring. I've committed many sins…I know that. But I do not regret them because I know they must be done to get this world right. To feel the water fall on us was a filter to my mind. It made me feel at ease in a long while and yet it didn't let me forget what I've done. It just helped remind me why I do what I do.

My guess for Rinoa is she finally realized what she was actually getting herself into. She got caught pretty deep into the crime world today. She experienced part of the worst and she was lucky to come out alive. I don't know what she's thinking right now. I can guess the general substance of it all. But to truly know what her mind is thinking, she has to tell me.

"I can't do this Squall." Her words were choked out as if against her will.

"Why's that?" I replied calmly.

"I killed people tonight."

"Yes you did."

"In the building I shot that man strangling you and didn't care, it didn't affect me in anyway."

"You saved me, that's what you did."

She shook her head. "That didn't rationalize it. It just wasn't real yet."

"Capella?"

"That's what got me covered in blood. That brought me into the new world I was living in, but it still didn't have much of an effect on me. I was too angry at him to feel sorry."

"Okay," I spoke gently trying to be as comforting as I could. "What happened?"

"There was a man outside Capella's room. I didn't want to make a sound to alert people."

"Smart."

"Yeah it was _tactical_ wasn't it," her voice was flowing with heavy venom filled sarcasm. "Everything is so much easier from a tactical point of view."

"Okay I'm sorry," I rubbed her arm softly, "Tell me what happened."

"I couldn't shoot him and I had a knife, so I tried to jump on him and end it quick."

Oh fuck. I know exactly where this is going. I wrapped Rinoa tightly in my arms. "Don't worry he deserved it."

"You don't know that!" She screamed. "He was begging me, begging me to stop! He pleaded with me and I kept at it! I plunged that knife right into his fucking chest until he stopped breathing! How is that the right thing when he just wanted to live!"

She then began sobbing and I held her as close as possible. She turned her body a little bit to lean her head against my shoulder. I petted her hair and whispered comforting words. But I knew what it was like to have someone begging for their life. It was never an easy thing and I hate myself for being able to ignore that horrible feeling now. To have a man on his knees in front of me begging for his life and pull the trigger in a matter of seconds.

"Rinoa you had to do it," I whispered in her ear. "If you didn't I would've died. You killed a man to save another."

"Equivalent exchange?" She spat. "Is that what that is? The balance of the world."

"No it's not equal," I replied strongly. "No life is comparable to another. But would you rather have let that man live and had me die. I hope I'm a little more important to you than a mobster."

"He had a family."

"Does that matter? Your father had a family." I argued. "If he was that close to Capella to be at his door. He must've done some terrible things. He wasn't a good person Rinoa, he just wasn't. You did the right thing and I'm sorry that you had to witness the true form of killing someone. When they beg and plead and do absolutely everything they can to stay alive."

"How do you do it?" She asked into my arm.

"I can't answer that," I told her truthfully. "Rinoa everyone here has experienced a terrible life. Does Zell think about what J.R. did to his family before he kills someone? Does Seifer think about his dad beating him to an inch of his life while he fully takes a life? Rinoa it's hard to feel good about killing someone. However this job kills the wicked, and that is why we don't go crazy. That's how we can still sleep at night and look at ourselves in the mirror."

"What do you think about?" She titled her head up to stare at me.

I smiled softly. "I use to think about my family. Now…I don't even think."

She turned back. "That's sad."

"You're right, is it. The saddest part is I guarantee you'll get to that point."

There was a brief pause in the conversation when she digested that. I'm sure it wasn't what she wanted to her hear but needed to be said. After she didn't respond at all I decided to ask what was on my mind.

"Are you okay from Capella?" I asked not sure how she would take it.

She stiffened a little. "I'm fine."

I rubbed her arm smoothly before asking the next question. "I need to know how far it went."

She didn't answer right away. She gripped my arm a little tighter and I was praying to God it didn't go too far. I wouldn't know what to do if it went all the way. I'd hate myself for ever putting her in that situation. I didn't train her enough to handle the importance and the risk this job held.

"Far enough." She answered curtly.

"Rinoa…"

She let out a growl. "His hands were all over."

I gave her a little squeeze hoping it would bring her comfort but I wasn't sure if it would actually freak her out more. I was just hoping she knew that I didn't mean her any harm.

"He didn't make it down below…I stopped him by then. But he bit my neck and squeeze so fucking hard."

I glanced at her neck to see some red marks that I knew healed since some time past since the mansion. I could never imagine what it must've felt like to have that happen to her. To have some unwanted man all over you and pretending to like it long enough to accomplish the task that you set out for. I hated to think of her going through that…but that is her main job on this team. I hope she doesn't refuse now that she knows what it might be like.

"But you made it through, because you're tough."

She let out a laugh that sounded more like a snort. "I was panicking on the inside. I could barely wait five seconds before I grabbed the knife."

"Don't worry, we'll train you to deal with situation like that. I promise that you'll be ready in the future." I tried to give her as much reassurance as I could.

"Squall I'm not quitting if that's what you're worried about."

"No pressure."

"I'm staying," She looked over her shoulder at me and her eyes were filled with sheer determination. "You're going to train me and I will not be a little princess anymore. I want to be strong and protect others. I don't want people to continually protect me."

"I'll help you get there, don't worry."

I was happy that even though things went horribly wrong tonight she only got inspired. So even if she will be a little shaken the next couple days. She will come through strong, I know she will.

"Hey Rinoa, can we turn it too hot now?" I asked because I honestly couldn't stand the cold anymore.

"Yeah." She giggled a little.

I stood up and twisted the knob and even half warm felt amazing after that cold storm I just endured. I settled back down and she snuggled back into my form so we kinda molded together. I can't say I minded too much. Rinoa was definitely an attractive girl, there wasn't any argument there. The argument was if I actually wanted to try to get anything going between us. I liked her as a friend already, but I just didn't know beyond that. There were so many complications when it came to relationships.

This also wasn't the time to think about that.

"Hey Squall?" her voice was so calm I knew she was a bit more relaxed and at ease than earlier.

"Yeah?"

"Tell me a story."

I chuckled, "A what?"

"A story," she repeated. "Please."

I thought for a moment. "Okay," I held her a little tighter and she felt smooth against my arms. "So I'm actually from Balamb."

"You are?" She was surprised. "Where's your accent?"

"I can hide it."

"Doesn't surprise me, I'm hearing it later though."

"I bet you won't," I mumbled.

"Story." She reminded.

"Right," I took a moment to regain my composure. "I lived in Balamb in a little house. It was the house that people love to paint for art. The little quaint garden and white picket fence. The windows with the square white cross pieces. It stood among others that looked exactly the same with giant green hills in the back. Tall grass that waved in the wind with limestone walls lining dirt paths. It's the most beautiful thing in the world."

"Sounds it."

"It was very small though. It had a living room and a kitchen downstairs, that's it. Then two rooms upstairs and one bathroom. My parents shared a room and my sister and I also shared one."

"What where their names?"

"My Father's name was Laguna, my mom's Raine, and my sister was Ellone and with me we made up the Lories."

She shifted a little and I knew she was confused.

"I changed my name when I came to Galbadia." I explained. "Anyways, we would always love going to the beach. It was cheap and it was fun. It kept my sis and I entertained all day since we were still so little. Also by the end of the day we were so tired we would just fall asleep. My mom loved it."

Rinoa laughed a little probably understanding what I meant.

"Every time we would go I would always try and catch crabs. I would then build an arena and try and make them fight."

Rinoa looked over her shoulder.

"I was a boy," I stressed. She smiled smugly and turned back around. "Just like you, my sis didn't see the fun in the idea. She would always tell my mom practically crying that I was hurting the crabs. So then my mom always responded by telling my dad to put them back."

"Did he?"

"Never," I answered happily relieving the moment. "He would always come over and watch the fights with me. Sometimes he would fake commentate acting like it was a boxing match or something. He was such a goofy guy. I would always be laughing my face off by the end of it though. He would just smile until I calmed down. Then he would always pick up the crabs and put them back in the ocean. I would then stand there with him and he would rest his hand on my head."

"That's really sweet. Sound like you loved your dad." She told me seriously.

"I did. He was an idiot though. Always getting into trouble with other guys."

"Whaddya mean?"

"He would be at a bar and they would say something offensive I guess. He would tell them off…then get his ass kicked."

She giggled. "Well at least he told them off."

"Yeah I guess, my mom always gave him another beating when he got home for it though."

"What did your dad do?"

"Army." I answered.

"And he got beat up all the time?"

I laughed. "He let himself get beat up because he didn't want to hurt others when he didn't have to."

"Your dad was weird." She stated.

"Yeah he was."

There was another pause in the conversation. I simply ended my story and didn't have more to say. I felt her take a deep breath in my arms.

"Now what?" She asked looking up at me.

"Now we go to bed." I stood up and turned the water off.

I held out my hand and she took it. I helped her out of the tub like the gentleman I was at times. She unzipped the heavy water-soaked jumpsuit. She let it drop to the floor around her ankles and then stepped out of the sloppy circle it made. She stood there dripping wet in her bra and panties. She flipped her hair in front of her and the water droplets that fell from it ran down her soft skin. They lead right down to her bra and hesitated attracting more attention than they should receive. I've never felt more temptation in my entire life. She looked at me quizzically and I laughed ironically inside. She didn't even know how attractive she was right now.

She looked down at herself and smirked. "Hmm so you aren't gay."

"I'm not what?" I was taken back.

She giggled to herself and brushed past me but stopped right behind me. I didn't look but I could feel her standing there. Right behind me and I knew she wanted to say something.

"Squall…thanks…for everything."

"Anytime."

I felt her hand on my back. It was so small and yet it held a familiar feel of warmth to it. Something that I haven't felt in a long time. Then I felt her other hand on my back until they both snaked around to my chest. She grabbed her wrists and I was locked in her embrace. She rested her head between my shoulder blades.

"No really Squall…I want you to know how thankful I am for the new life you've given me." She whispered into my skin so gently it sent me shivers.

I didn't know how to answer but I didn't have to. I felt her arms withdraw and she darted out of the bathroom.

I leaned against the bathroom sink and folded my arms. A small smile spread across my face. She was still happy to be here even after tonight. That was exactly what I needed to know about her. If she could truly handle the worst and still want to press forward. She succeeded my last final test I had for her in my head. I now knew beyond doubt that she was ready for this job and I could pull out all the stops for her.

"She good?"

I looked towards the door to see Seifer leaning on the frame.

I smirked. "Yeah…she's good."

* * *

**So a little something at the end there, hope that makes some people happy. Maybe it will bring in a little more reviewers which I seem to be losing…somehow. Still as always leave a review to tell me how I did. **


	12. Roof

**Rinoa's POV**

**December Twenty-Second**

"Selphie!" I shouted. I wondered where she could be. I was gonna ask if she wanted to go out and get some coffee or something. Maybe do a little Christmas shopping as well. Because of course I wait 'till the last minute before I shop at all. Then again I didn't exactly have time at all with everything that's been going on.

I peeked into the office and saw Quistis typing away like usual.

"Hey Quistis," I called sweetly from the door.

She spun around in her chair and pulled the pen out of her mouth that she was nibbling on. "Yes?"

"Do you know where Selphie is?" I asked.

She tapped her chin with the pen. "Try the bathroom I think she's fixing herself up."

"Thanks," I called already heading towards the bathroom near my room.

Selphie fixing herself up? That must mean she's going out. Damn if she's busy I don't know who else would go with me, I really don't wanna go by myself. I mean I could, but I've been finding myself not wanting to be alone so much anymore. I realized that since I've been here I'm rarely alone and I enjoy that deeply. If I ever needed to be alone I'd just go to my room since that seems to be an unspoken rule that if you don't wanna deal with people just shut yourself in your room. Then you're only bothered if it's necessary.

I saw the bathroom door opened cracked open so she must've just been fixing herself up a bit.

I pushed the door open, "Hey Sel-eifer!"

There sat Seifer on the toilet holding a newspaper. He lowered it nonchalantly and looked at me. He raised it back up with a snap.

"Haven't you ever heard of knocking?"

I looked away at the wall, not that there was anything to see with the paper covering but it was just…weird.

"I'm sorry why wasn't it locked?" I accused.

"'Cause I didn't think someone would just walk in," He shot back.

"Fine whatever," I just wanted to get out of there, damn you Quistis, damn you to hell. I turned back to him. "Hey have you seen Selphie?"

"Selphie?" I heard the paper crinkle behind me. "Yeah she's in the shower."

My jaw dropped. I whipped back around and pointed my finger at the tub with the closed curtain. "That shower?" I listened and realized there was water pouring in it.

"Uh yeah," Seifer answered. He snapped the paper back up. "Hey Selphie!"

"Yeah?" I heard her petite voice answer from the other side of the curtain.

"Rinoa's asking for ya," He told her.

She poked her head out and looked at me. She whipped her hair out of her face and gave me a nice smile.

"Hey, what's up?"

I shook my head waved my arms. "No, this is definitely weird."

"What's weird?"

"You're taking a shower while he's taking a shit," I exclaimed.

Seifer peered over the paper and made eye contact with Selphie. He snapped the paper back up to cover his face while he spoke. "We aren't teenagers anymore…well you are."

I stomped my foot. "I'm nineteen, that's legal. You're only twenty."

"Twenty-one," He corrected. "That means I can buy alcohol which is proof of being an adult."

"Whatever!" I exclaimed, "That isn't the point. Seifer couldn't you have waited 'till she was done."

He chuckled, "Oh you think I was here second…wrong again."

My mouth dropped and I looked at the floor to see a pile of Selphie's dirty clothes. My head snapped towards her while she just giggled finding the whole situation hilarious.

"You just stripped right in front of him."

"Oh God," Seifer whined dropping the paper again. "It's nothing I haven't seen and I don't have anything she hasn't seen. We aren't hormonal so we don't have to jump each other automatically."

"I didn't mean that," I didn't mean to sound like a nun. "It's just…"

"Rinoa," Selphie smiled, "You have to understand our closeness between our family. There is no need to hide from each other, what's the point. Seifer's right, we don't automatically jump each other. I mean we don't walk around butt ass naked, but we don't freak out either."

Before I could respond I heard someone say 'excuse me' from behind me. They weren't that polite however since they just pushed me out of the way while they said it. _They_ turned out to be Squall. I watched in awe as he walked over to the sink and opened the cabinet above it. He pulled out a razor and shaving cream. He began applying the cream to his face while reading one side of the paper Seifer had.

"Hear about that boy who got the heart?" Squall asked Seifer.

"Yeah, tear-jerking."

"Damn people still surprise me in this city." Squall commented.

"Well…" Seifer put the paper down. "It's not like the guy donated it to him. He got hit by a bus."

Squall pointed the razor at him as he spoke. "Hey but that man kept his heart safe from that bus by taking it in the head."

"I'm pretty sure the little fucker was trying anything but to get hit in the head."

Squall laughed, "You may be right."

"Well I think it's sad that one man has to die to for another to live," Selphie interjected her piece.

Squall began shaving, leaning closer to the mirror. "Yeah it's sad but a fifty-year-old died to give a fourteen-year-old kid life."

"Besides, the paper says the man wasn't too nice either. Had some problems." Seifer backed Squall.

"Okay not this one, but heart transplants in theory," Selphie explained.

"Yeah, yeah I'll agree with you there," Squall replied.

"Aye," Seifer mumbled.

"For fuck's sake." I grumbled covering my eyes with one hand while that same arm I used my elbow to lean against the wall.

"Something wrong?" Squall asked.

"No, no," I held up my free hand. "Just came to ask if Selphie wanted to go Christmas shopping."

"Oh sorry Rin, I'm going out with Irvine." She followed up her excuse with a sad smile.

"Figure you couldn't after all this," I replied.

"You don't have to go Christmas shopping," Squall told me. "We never do."

"Oh right," I replied sarcastically.

"We really don't," Seifer said turning the page of the newspaper. I swear is he even reading the fucking thing or is this just to look cool.

"Well I'm gonna," I said hotly, "…I just need someone to come with."

"Take Zell," Squall told me. "He's always fun to go shopping with."

I mulled the thought over in my head. "…alright fine. Where is he?"

"The roof," Squall told me finishing up.

"The roof?" I looked straight up like the idiot I was. I snapped it back down before anyone saw.

"Really, had to look up to see the roof huh heartily?"

God I hate you Seifer.

"There stairs are in Zell's room." Squall explained ignoring Seifer.

"Wait don't tell me you guys own the roof too." That would be quite shocking in a way but in another I can't even say I'm that surprised.

"Of course," Selphie giggled before tucking back behind the curtain.

"Whatever I've learned not to question things anymore," I turned and just headed for Zell's room.

I realized I'd never actually been in it. I opened the door and wasn't too surprised to see his room all messy. The walls were painted dark read and since his room was also a corner the windows mirrored mine. Some looked over the city right above his bed, while another one was at the left wall and it showed some suburbs in the distance. Eventually the coast would come into view, but that was really far down.

He had various martial arts posters on his wall. Usually black shadow men doing certain stances or positions. I noticed he had some pegs in the walls and had pretty cool looking weapons on them. One actually had num-chucks dangling from it…I really wondered if he knew how to use those. He had some ninja looking knives, what were they called again…shuriken or something. I didn't know he had all this cool ancient stuff.

Directly to my left were the stairs and they were classic spiral steps so they wouldn't take up so much room. I ascended them and reached the ceiling. I pushed the tile aside and climbed the last couple sets before stepping into the ceiling. I was now standing between the roof of the building and our apartments ceiling…pretty damn cool. I climbed a little foot ladder and pushed open a hatch. The cold air his me and I cursed myself for forgetting it was December.

I stepped onto the roof and shut the hatch behind me. I saw Zell right away even though it was hard to actually _see _him. He was performing many maneuvers that only he would be able to accomplish. I also was able to see a blue flash and figured it was some weapon but I couldn't exactly see what it was since it was moving so fast. I looked like some club it was so big but a blue club? The other thing I noticed was that he wasn't wearing a shirt. He had baggy blue pants that had read ties at his ankles so they wouldn't fall over his feet. Also a red slash tied around his waist to keep the pants up.

He did flip after flip, roll after roll, spins, kicks, punches, swings. It was remarkable, and I couldn't pull my eyes away from him. I watched as he froze once in a stance. It almost reminded me of that one stance in _The Karate Kid_ where the boy froze lifting one leg in the air with his hands up. Though…this didn't look gay and it looked wicked cool.

The stance differed in a couple ways. His one leg was lifted and bent strongly at the knee but was aimed a little to the side. His arms were also not straight out, one was across his lower stomach in a fist while the other was arcing over his head. I let out a gasp when I finally saw what he was holding. It was a sword, but very thick, with a deep beautiful majestic blue tint. It looked like I was looking into some clear blue water. It had some design on the side that I couldn't read but I knew this sword held some high value and importance.

Zell heard me gasp and turned his head towards me. He smiled and dropped his stance. "S'up?"

I clapped smiling. "That was really, really impressive."

He waved it off, "Just a little form of meditation."

"It was beautiful." I commented.

He stretched his head embarrassed. "Well thanks."

"That swords so pretty," closer I could truly take its full beauty in.

"You make it sound so gay," He grumbled.

I shook my head, "I don't mean it like that, just it's the best looking weapon I've ever seen. It's got such a pretty color."

He laughed and held it out to me. "You wanna hold it?"

"Can I?" I looked up at him eagerly.

"Yeah, sure," He handed it to me and I took it firmly in my grasp.

"It's not as heavy as I thought it would be," I commented.

"Yeah it's made from a certain metal." He explained.

"Where'd ya get it?" I asked as I dared to take one simple swing with it.

"I won it," and from the sound of his voice I could tell he was really proud.

I handed it back to him and smiled. "Well I can tell you really wanna tell the story now."

He shook his head, "Oh no, not at all."

I quirked and eyebrow.

He started bobbing up and down slowly. "…okay yes I do."

I laughed, "Well start."

"One sec," He walked over to his jacket that he must've discarded. I'm not surprised, standing shirtless when there was snow on the ground is insane. We're just lucky it hasn't snowed recently so the roof top is fairly dry.

"Here," he held the jacket out for me.

"Zell…" This completely caught me off guard. "You're shirtless."

"I can deal, I like to feel the cold against my skin while I train. It helps me think for some reason."

I took it unsure but his reassuring smile made me wrap it around my shoulders. I was definitely happy to have it especially since I was just wearing a cami and jeans. He took a stance and I backed up a little bit. He started slowly moving back into stances. He resembled a wave with how smoothly he flowed.

"There is a tournament that all the greatest mixed martial arts fighters take part in." He explained as he continued his training.

"So it's really big?" I found myself captivated by his movements.

"Huge," He nodded. "To make it even bigger it only happens every twenty-five years."

My eyes lit up in realization. "That makes it so much bigger than an annual thing."

"Yup and this sword is the reward for the winner." He swung it fast and it made a loud swoosh sound. "It was started to determine the strength of the greatest fighter in the world. I think it started in 1806."

"That means there's only been seven total, right?"

"Yup, and you know what the best thing is," Zell turned his head to me and smile. "My grandfather won it twice in a row."

"How old was he?" I asked.

"He won it in 1956," Zell answered. "He was twenty years old…the youngest to ever win. Then he shocked the world again by taking the second tournament in 1981 when he was forty-five. It was amazing and incredible."

"Sure sounds it," I agreed loving the story and the show I was getting. Then I realized something. "Then you won it in 2006?"

He smirked and nodded.

"You were eigthteen…you beat your grandfather's record for youngest winner!" I shouted.

He laughed, "After I won he told me jokingly he wanted me to lose so he could keep the record."

"He sounds like a great person," I told Zell not sure if it was a good thing to say or not.

"He was…he really was," Zell dropped his stance. He looked deeply at the sword. "There are only seven of these swords in the entire world. Three of them belong to Dintch's and I will win the tournament one more time so half of the swords in creation belong to one family…one dynasty. That is how I'll honor my grandfather."

"Well if you already one once, doesn't that mean you're gonna easily win again," I tried to rise his spirits back up.

He laughed, "Maybe…who knows. It was so amazing that I won it the first time."

"I bet," I was being completely serious too. "I couldn't imagine going against people who were like masters twice your age."

Zell jerked a thumb at his chest proudly. "My grandfather was my teacher and he was the best this world has ever known. I only wish to be as good as him."

"Zell I didn't know your grandfather but winning a worldwide tournament at age eighteen has to say something," I argued.

He chucked, "My grandfather could still kick my ass even when he was seventy. He probably could've won the tournament for a third time but he said, _I want the next generation to experience the gifts of our world…and I already have two swords, if I had a third hand I may want one more, but sadly I don't."_

I burst up laughing. "That's hilarious."

Zell laughed along. "He was funny, that was the best part."

There was silence for a moment and I wasn't sure what to say to break it. I didn't know if I should've kept him talking about his grandfather or if that was making him to depressed. I wasn't sure if I should change the subject or if that seemed too random and insincere.

"So why are you up here?" He suddenly asked.

"Oh…wanna go shopping?" I titled my head cutely and smiled.

"Why?"

"Christmas is in three days!" I exclaimed. "How come no one cares?"

Zell laughed, "We don't usually get each other gifts."

"That's what people keep saying, why? That's the funnest part of Christmas."

"Oh yeah, you have the Christmas spirit alright."

"Shut up," I giggled. "But how come you guys don't get each other gifts."

Zell shrugged, "Well we only had one whole Christmas together and we decided not to get each other gifts."

"Why not," I whined.

"'Cause we finally understood the meaning to just be alive and enjoy each other company. It was the first enjoyable Christmas that any of us had in a while. Besides we didn't have that much money last year to waste it on gifts."

"But you have money this year," I argued. "And how can you say _usually_ when it was simply last year you didn't get gifts."

"Well we just have a pretty fun party…with lots of alcohol."

My eyes lit up, "That sounds better."

He chuckled, "Really we don't need gifts 'cause we have so much money we can just get stuff whenever."

I frowned, "That isn't fun or the point. We could get meaningful gifts that each person could have and always think about it."

"You'll get use to it," He told me.

"I don't wanna get use to it," I grabbed his hand, "Come on we're going shopping."

"Fine, fine," He laughed along. "Just let me shower first."

"Hey you can help me pick stuff out too 'cause I really don't know what to get for people…especially Squall."

Zell stopped walking suddenly and it jerked me to a stop. It reminded me of how much stronger Zell is than me.

I tilted my head, "Something wrong?"

"I gotta talk to you about Squall," Zell said solemnly. He walked over to the edge of the building and sat down. He rested the sword across his knees and looked up at me. I would've sat next to him because it seemed like the moment to do so, but honestly I was scared to death of that ledge. I was scared for Zell to be sitting there.

"It's not that anything's wrong," He started, "You just need to know about him."

"I don't understand."

"Agh I'm no good at these things," Zell scratched the back of his head. "I'm making it seem like something's wrong. Noithing's wrong, just you need to know how important he is."

"Yeah…he's your leader, I get that." I said.

Zell chuckled, "You said _your_. It's _our_ now, you're a part of this family now."

I smiled meekly, "I still feel like the new kid."

"You are but there's no shame in that. You'll feel a part of the group before you know it."

"Sounds good to me," There was a pause and I felt I needed to readdress the current issue. "Anyways…"

"Oh right," Zell knocked his head with his fist. "Well you know how important Squall is right? You've seen firsthand what he can do."

"Yeah…it was amazing."

Zell nodded, "We all have our specialties and trust me we're the best at what he do. But Squall is just above us all. He's on another whole level."

"Well to me you guys all seem on another level," I added.

"You'll see as time goes on. You'll catch up with all of us…except Squall. Rinoa I can't be more serious saying this…without Squall there is no us."

I frowned, "What are you getting at."

"He put this whole thing together. He makes the plans, he saves us when we get in trouble, he is the only reason this is working. There have been groups in the past that have tried to do what we've done. They weren't as successful because they didn't have someone like Squall."

"Okay slow down," I pumped my hands down, "I know Squall is amazing but you're making him like a god or something."

"He's like an angel. When I think of someone sent by God I think of Squall." Zell placed the sword against the ledge and stood up. He took a couple steps grabbing his head with his hands. "You don't know how much I admire him. I know we're best friends but he's just…just…"

"Hard to explain?"

"So hard," He chuckled.

"I think you're blowing this out of proportion." I offered. "We were just talking about how you won this world wide tournament twice."

He scratched his head again. "Alright I'm not doing well with this…Okay let's try this angle. If I died, the team would go on. If Quistis died, the team would go on. If Squall died…the team would end."

"Why?" I didn't get it.

"It's a little early for you to comprehend it so just trust me."

"It's hard to trust you when you say things like this," I told him honestly.

"Alright, I can understand that," he walked over to me and placed both hands on my shoulder. "Then just put everything I just said for now in the back of your mind. But keep it there 'cause it will come back up, believe me."

"Okay…" This was a little weird.

"One last thing," He gave me a squeeze on my shoulders to make sure I know it was important. "Everyone has agreed on one last resort plan and when I say everyone, I mean everyone _except_ Squall."

"What are you getting at?"

"The plan is called Plan Omega. It is the last resort, only to be put into action if everything is going wrong."

"What is Plan Omega?" By his tone and demeanor as well as this entire conversation I knew this was one of the most important things I would have to know being on this team.

"The plan is only about one task…keep Squall alive."

I eye widened, "What?" I stepped back. "The hell are you saying?"

"Everyone has agreed that if the situation is too bleak for all of us to survive, we simple do everything to let Squall survive. If that means we all sacrifice ourselves to make that happen, then that's what we do."

I walked around staring at the ground, "You're telling me Seifer, Quistis, Irvine, and even Selphie have all agreed to this." My head snapped up to see his answer.

"Yes." Zell walked towards me. "It is the most important order we have. It is not to be disobeyed. If anyone calls it, follow it. No matter what Squall says."

"And Squall doesn't know about it."

"Are you kidding, do you know what he'd do to us if he ever heard we had such a plan."

"This is crazy." I said to myself.

Was Squall that important? That they were all willing to die for him. Am I willing to die for him? Is his life worth the death of six others?

"Rinoa I had to tell you this but that doesn't mean you need to worry about it." Zell must've realized I was indeed worrying about it and was trying to comfort me now. "This is a last resort plan, if everyone does their jobs right it should never be put into action. So don't go thinking that every task we do might have the call. Squall isn't suicidal, we don't have to pull him out of every dangerous situation. It simply is there _in case_ something beyond what we can control happens."

I let out a deep breath. "What a gloomy thought."

"It goes with being here, sorry," Zell shrugged.

"It's alright, I know that this isn't all for fun. I know what we do is beyond dangerous, just the thought that all of you are willing to die for Squall in an instant…well it's something to take in alright."

Zell laughed, "I'm sure it is. But don't worry it should never happen."

"What won't ever happen?"

We both whipped our heads towards Squall who just magically appeared on the roof.

"Rinoa actually having sex with a hit she's supposed to take out," Zell snapped out before I even could begin to think of something. I know people consider Zell not that bright because he acts on his emotions more than anything, but he's a lot smarter than he leads to believe.

"You still worried about that?" He looked at me.

"Little bit?" I played along. Well it wasn't exactly playing along since I was worried about it. "I know it probably won't happen but I can't help worry about it."

"Don't worry we'll make sure you're ready, we won't put you in a situation you can't handle."

"You're being nice…"

Zell laughed, "He's nice, just gives off a bad first impression."

"Whatever." Squall said crossing his arms.

"Oh his safety word, that's my cue to leave." He walked past Squall picking up his sword leaning against the ledge. He gave a single wave over his shoulder before disappearing down below.

"So what are you doing up here?" I asked Squall.

He whipped out his pack of smoke, "Taking a breath."

"A breath of smoke?" I retorted.

He shrugged, "What can I say, air gets boring after a while."

I watched as he stuck one in his mouth and pulled a silver light from his pocket. He flipped the top up and ignited the flame, setting his cigarette on fire. He snapped the lighter closed and put it back in his pocket.

"Those things will kill ya."

"I'm sure something else will get me before these things," He smirked.

"You say you're smart, and yet you smoke knowing all its hazards effects." I frowned.

He looked at me curiously. "Oh so you've never smoked."

I turned away, "Well who hasn't, but it's when I'm drunk. Not just on my own when I feel like it."

"Well good you shouldn't," Squall turned to me looking smug. "They could kill you.

I huffed. "You're not funny."

"Oh pretty damn funny," He took a long drag before blowing the smoke high into the air.

There was a pause and I figured I could get some more information about him. That and at least talk with him a little more. I wasn't sure but I felt we were slowly becoming better friends. Maybe the whole almost dying thing kinda brings people together.

I raised a finger slowly walking around him. "You know I've been told numerous times that you are the leader. Does that mean I have to follow every order you say?"

He crossed his arms and chuckled with the cigarette still burning between his fingers, "Where's this coming from?"

"I wanna know what comes with being on this team," I pushed him in the shoulder. "Now answer the question."

"Wait, are you interrogating me?" He half laughed.

"God knows you've torn my life apart bit by bit to examine it." I wasn't saying it in a mean way. Simply giving my reasons to my actions.

"Okay, I'll bite," He kept turning his head following me taking some drags as he did. When I walked behind him his head would jerk to the other side waiting for me to appear again. "As a leader you have to do everything I say, yet questions everything as well."

I put my hands behind my back and did an exaggerated walk. Where I stuck each foot out far in front of me before placing it on the ground. "That makes no sense." I didn't care too much though because I was amazed he was playing along. Apparently I really did get the wrong opinion about him. Maybe since I proved myself – in his eyes since I still don't think I did – in Capella's mansion he has more respect.

"Let me put it this way. If I tell you to jump off a bridge you better damn jump head first."

"Um I think that expression is used for the opposite case." I argued.

He smirked, "But if tell you to shot a seven-year-old child holding a knife, you better turn that gun on me."

I stopped walking around him and faced the brunette. "That makes even less sense."

"Not very good at interrogation are you?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. "I'll pinch you."

Surprisingly I heard an up-roaring laugh erupt from him. He threw the bud on the ground and smooshed it out.

I placed my hands on my hips. "It wasn't that funny."

"I suppose it wasn't," He calmed down slowly. "Just caught me off guard I guess."

"Well whatever, just explain."

"No thanks," He turned and head back to the little trap door thingy.

"What?" I exclaimed, "You can't do that."

"Watch me," He opened up the hatch and dropped down.

I chased after him quickly. He must've sped his pace up because I didn't reach him until he was in the main living room. I was surprised to see everyone else there as well. Seifer and Quistis on the couch with Irvine and Selphie in the kitchen. Still virtually the same room.

I was about to complain about Squall when I heard Quistis let out a loud groan.

"You aren't even listening."

Seifer shrugged, "Sure I'm listening…just not to you."

"God men suck." Quistis huffed.

"True dat," Selphie cheered from the kitchen.

"Oh guys suck huh?" Seifer turned towards his girlfriend.

"Yes they do," She met his gaze. "I don't understand how such simple creatures can cause so many problems."

"Such simple creatures," Irvine gasped dramatically.

"You guys are simple," Selphie argued.

Squall turned to me and smirked, "This is gonna be good." He walked over to his chair on the left side of the couch and set down. I took the one on the right and found the overall argument very amusing and true.

Selphie stood up and walked in front of the coffee table to face Seifer. "You guys act like there are layers to you but there's not."

Seifer leaned forward on his knees. "Oh then enlighten me. What do guys want?"

"Food, beer, and sex," Selphie counted on three fingers.

"Oh honey, you're mistaken," Irvine joined the group surrounding the coffee table. "Beer _is_ food."

"Agh God," Selphie let out a loud groan.

Quistis took up Selphie's defense. "If you have food to eat, beer to drink, and a girl to sleep with then you're happy. That's rather simple no other way about it."

Seifer straightened himself up on the couch faking shock. "Why Quistis, how dare you."

"You can't even have an argument seriously." Quistis complained.

"Alright fine," Seifer's tone became serious. "You say guys are simple in essence implying girls are complicated."

"We are," Selphie interjected.

"But you aren't, because every guy knows what a girl wants," Seifer tapped his nose. "You want one thing and one thing only, to be loved. It's as simple as that."

"Love isn't simple," Selphie leaned closer to Seifer getting really into the argument. "It takes work, devotion, care, it takes so much stuff that it is definitely complicated therefore making girls complicated. Guys can't begin to understand."

Seifer smirked, "Of course we do, we want love too, we just don't crave it. I'll admit that guys love beer, sex, and food. Nothing wrong about it, three great things. But you are putting us in a category that, that is all we want. Now if I did that with women I could say that a girl just wants a guy to make them feel important. They wanna feel they are the most important thing in a guy's life. Which isn't hard to do."

"Oh you think it's easy?" Quistis inquired crossing her arms.

"Irvine can vouch for me on this. We always know what to say to a girl, it isn't hard. When a girl asks if they should stay in or go out, you say out because if they wanted to stay in they wouldn't have asked. If a girls down, you cheer them up by giving them attention and talking about things they love."

"It's not that simple," Selphie growled.

"Oh it is," Irvine backed Seifer. "We just don't always choose right on purpose 'cause then it would have you guys get your way all the time. Like right now I know the correct thing to do in this situation is agree with you completely. But I'm not, even though I'll get hell for it later."

"Damn right you are," Selphie fumed.

"To continue," Seifer started again. "We know everything to say at every moment, but we just don't feel like it all the time. I know if you ever came crying to me all I have to say is, _whose ass am I kicking_ and you'll laugh and then tell me what's wrong. If I listen everything would work out."

Qusitis opened her mouth to argue when she suddenly shut it. She glanced at Seifer and then down at the ground. "God damn it…you've used that on me."

Seifer leaned back crossing his hands behind his head. "We know everything you want. You want us to wake up and make you breakfast. You want us to spend time talking about things that don't mean shit to us. You know what we want, and we know what you want. So this whole, guys don't know what girls want…its bullshit. We do, we just don't show it."

"Okay then, enlighten me this time. Why don't guys always make a girl happy?"

"Takes too much damn work," Seifer snorted. "You guys are never happy. If I had to talk about cyberspace anymore I'd end up asking Zell to hangout."

This is when Selphie turned to Irvine. "Okay, if you say you know what I want. Then what do I want to do right now?"

"You want me to be dramatically sorry in front of everyone so you can say _no_ and walk away."

Selphie's mouth dropped. "God dammit!" She shouted.

Irvine and Seifer shared a victorious glance.

I was trying hard not to laugh through the entire conversation. I held it in because I knew that although it was funny it was also pretty serious. But now was the time to help my fellow girls in trouble.

"Okay then," I leaned forward drawing everyone's attention. "If you know what a girl wants so bad. Then what if I told you I didn't want to go to a business party and begged you to come up with an excuse for me not to go because I hate to dress up that much since there are female coworkers I hate that would judge me since they're prettier than me and I would rather stay home."

Seifer smirked, "Well then I would say-"

"Trick question," Squall caught his friend off. "You do want to go because staying home you would just think about not going. In fact you would want the guy to say you are the prettiest and buy you a new dress with jewelry to wear. Girls don't dress up for guys; they dress up for other girls to prove they are better looking. Then you would want the guy to offer to go with you and you would want the guy to make sure you have the best time of your life. And I may be pushing it, but you would even want the guy to somehow insult or embarrass the coworkers you hate."

I sent the biggest glare I could muster at Squall. His little fucking smirk appeared like always.

"Am I wrong?"

Irvine made a long whistle sound that slowly got lower and lower. He moved his hands downwards and then pulled them apart. "Boom!"

"Crash and burn girls," Seifer taunted, "Crash and burn."

Zell walked in and saw the boys laughing. "Hey what's so funny."

"Nothing," I huffed walking towards the door. "Come on Zell we're leaving."

I walked over to the 'torture room' which really was just a large closet. They kept a coat rack in their so they didn't have to go to their rooms every time they need a heavy coat. I grabbed my pea coat and threw it around my shoulders vigorously.

"We're ya goin'," Irvine asked.

"Christmas shopping," I smirked, "Guess who aren't getting presents."

Seifer's and Irvine's faces dropped.

"Wait I still am right?" Zell asked worriedly.

"Do you know what girl's want Zell?" I directed at him.

"Hell no, they are way too complicated," He shook his head and waved his arms.

"And that is why Zell will get a new car," I spat at everyone else.

"Yay Rinny!" Selphie cheered.

"Aww damn it Squall," Seifer accused the brunette.

"My fault," Squall pointed at his own chest. "Why didn't you just listen to Quistis in the first place?"

"Because I was looking for something on TV," He explained.

"Oh wrong answer," Quistis announced.

"Yeah Seifer you just dug yourself a hole," Irvine laughed.

"Wait sshh!" He urged leaning forward and turning up the TV.

Everyone gathered around wondering what he was looking for. It seemed to be a special news cast. There was the usual perfect business looking reporter and a motherly looking woman. There was also some elder Centrian grandma looking person playing with two smaller children.

The reporter was looking at the camera as she spoke. "We do not know if it is an annual thing but we do know that last Christmas there were many prayers answered. Prayers that have been in waiting for years and were finally answered. Whose to be thanked…the Saints of course."

The reporter turned to the motherly looking women. "The Mura family was one of the lucky ones whose prayers were answered. Can you tell us what happened last Christmas."

She nodded eagerly. "I lost my job and my house and was left on the street, all right before Christmas." There was a small accent but it wasn't anything too noticeable. "I was so worried that we would have to spend Christmas in an alleyway. It would be no way for my kids to spend a holiday."

"And what happened," the reporter pressed.

"An angel," The elder women exclaimed, her accent was very thick. She was obviously born in Centra.

"An Angel?" the reporter repeated.

The elder women nodded eagerly. "Grande luce."

"She's saying there was a great light about him," the mother translated.

"Do you agree?" The reporter asked the mother.

The mother nodded. "I don't know if he was angel or not but I do know he was an amazing person."

"What did he do?"

"He left us five thousand gil so we could stay in a hotel for Christmas and get our lives back on track." The mother started tearing up a little. "I owe him my life, he saved me and my family."

"And you believe he was one of the Saints?" the reporter inquired.

"Saint Michael!" the elder women shouted. "Saint Michael."

"Saint Michael?"

The mother smiled, "Saint Michael the Arc Angel. My mother believes he is the leader of the Saints. I do know if it is him exactly, but I do believe the leader of the Saint's is strongly guided by him."

The reporter turned back to the camera. "A touching story of how one man, labeled a killer by the city gives money to those in need. This only can add to the confusion and the conundrum of who the Saints really are. It sounds too good to be true and also very farfetched but it must be asked. Are they doing God's work and are they lead by Saint Michael?"

Seifer turned the TV off and looked at Squall. "Well Michael are you gonna make another run this Christmas?"

"Of Course," He replied seriously. "Christmas is one of the only times this city actually stops all its dirty deeds. The one time it stops being the corrupt pile of shit that it is. The one time that everyone can rest in their homes and be happy but for those that are on the street. Well I try my best to give them at least a little time to have no worries. It's the least I can do."

"Aww Squall." Selphie dove on her leader giving him a deep embrace.

"God damn it," He cursed. "Irvine!"

"You're lucky I'm not the jealous type, Squall," Irvine laughed.

"You are the jealous type," Seifer accused.

Irvine shrugged, "I can get over it this time."

Everyone laughed and I found myself smiling. Squall might've been a hard ass at times, but he was such a good person on the inside. I knew that everyone in this room was. Even though they kill people, even though they commit sins, they are probably the only people in this city with true good intentions. I couldn't help but feel proud to be in such a group.

"Alright, well me and Zell are still leaving," I announced.

"Alright have fun," Quistis answered since everyone else seemed to preoccupied.

"I'll reconsider if Seifer and Irvine are getting gifts, but I think Squall officially proved himself even if a complete smartass know-it-all."

"Whatever." Squall commented finally prying Selphie off.

I head towards the door with Zell on my heels. Irvine and Seifer shouted at me trying to convince me they were good people too. I laughed to myself enjoying the power I had currently. Of course I was going to get everyone a gift, it was just fun to mess with them.

"Maybe next year," Zell joked at Irvine and Seifer.

"Don't betray us and follow her man," Irvine called.

Zell leaned closer to me. "Do I still get something?"

"Yup."

"Then I am yours," Zell locked arms with me.

I laughed and walked out the door enjoying every bit of my new life.

* * *

**Took me a while to get this one out and nothing really important is going now. You know the usual character development and stuff i try and throw in. Just a little break between all the excitement and next chapter will be their Christmas party so fun stuff. **


	13. Christmas Eve

**Rinoa's POV**

**December Twenty-Fourth**

I opened up the cupboard above the sink looking for something to eat. I just wanted to munch on something and I discovered over my course of being with here,the cupboard above the sink is almost always filled with candy…I have no idea why. But like I figured it was definitely filled mostly with big bags of gummy worms and gummy bears. I figured Selphie really enjoyed them or something and she wouldn't care if I have any.

I grabbed the bag and turned around setting it on the counter that broke the kitchen and the living room. Selphie was actually sitting at the kitchen table tinkering with something, no idea what. It looked like a little toy plane but for all I know it could be an explosive.

"Selphie you don't mind if I have any of your gummy worms right?" I asked already digging in.

"There aren't mine," She replied not looking away from her work.

"Whose are they then?"

"Seifer's."

"You're kidding," I had three dangling out of my mouth as I spoke.

"Nope."

Hmm. She's really all serious when she's got something to work on. I haven't seen her like this too many times. Usually she is the one to be bouncing around and bothering others. Zell was lazily stretched out on the couch watching the news. Didn't think he'd be one for the news, but then again Quistis was sitting in one of the arm-chairs watching it as well. Made me wonder who actually had the remote.

"Why would Seifer have gummy worms?" I inquired. Still stuffing them in my mouth not caring.

"I t'ink when 'e quit 'mokin'," Selphie mumbled with some tool pressed between her lips.

"Seifer use to smoke!?" I exclaimed.

Selphie nodded.

I turned towards the living room. "Quistis!?"

"Yes?" She answered motherly.

"Did Seifer use to smoke?"

"Yeah, but he quit," She looked over her shoulder at me. "Ah I see you found his gummy worms. "

"He won't be mad right?" I asked hesitating to put two more worms in my mouth.

"Oh he'll be furious," Quistis answered nonchalantly while turning back to the TV.

"Ha ha, funny." I stuffed the two in my mouth.

"She's not kidding," Selphie told me equally as serious.

"Nice try."

"They're serious Rin," Zell called from the couch. "He gets pissed if someone eats them."

"Wait, why?" I looked around worriedly. "There's so many."

"It's just the way he is," Selphie shrugged.

"He eats a lot whenever he gets an old smoke crave." Quistis explained. "Eat any and he'll know."

"Yeah even when Zell took like ten one time, a huge fight erupted." Selphie chuckled, "Remember Zell?"

"Oh I remember," Zell snorted, "He almost broke my jaw."

"He's gets that pissed?" I was shocked, "That's crazy."

"Yeah so you better put them away," Quistis suggested.

"Hey Quistis!?" Seifer's deep voice called from one of the hallways.

"Eep," I jumped quickly grabbing the plastic filled back and putting it behind my back.

Seifer strolled into the room and headed straight for the kitchen. "Quistis, what was that kind of wine you liked?"

"Anything with Malbec," She answered like I wasn't about to get my teeth knocked out.

"Okay," He turned to me, "What do you like?"

"M-me?" God dammit. "Why you asking me," I said stronger this time.

"I'm doing the alcohol run for the party tonight," He explained, "So what do you like?"

"I'm nineteen," I answered. "I haven't had-"

"I'm not your dad."

"Grey Goose and cranberry juice please."

"Oh, whats that make?" Selphie beamed.

"A really nice Cape Codder if prepared right."

"I'm sure you know how," Seifer chuckled. Then suddenly to my horror he made his way over to the cabinet and opened it but looked over his shoulder. "Chickness-wuss?"

"Fuck you!" Zell shouted back.

Seifer smirked at it being so easy to rile Zell up. "Whaddya want?"

"You know me and bud," He called back.

"We have a beer fridge remember? Want anything special wise." Seifer looked back at the cabinet and I saw the hesitation. He frowned for a moment seeing a blank spot where his withdrawal gummy worms should be. He turned back and looked at me.

Oh the crows will taste me this time.

"Get some rum then," Zell answered.

"Captain?" Seifer asked while walking over to me looking into my eyes suspiciously.

"Yeah, that's good."

I was about to blurt out thousands of apologies and excuses when he stood in front of me.

"Selphie what about you?" He was perfectly calm and reached behind me grabbing the bag of worms. I let go of them and he pulled them in front of him.

"Double up that Grey Goose," She responded calmly as if this situation was happening.

Seifer opened up the bag and grabbed a handful of worms. "You think you need two bottles for you and Rinoa."

"It may be overkill but maybe someone else will have it too. We can never have too much." Selphie shrugged.

"Ain't that the truth," Seifer snorted. He held the bag back out in front of me. I slowly reached up and grabbed it. He turned and headed towards Quistis. He leaned down and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. Then he grabbed a coat and left.

I heard soft giggles come from Selphie. Soon she erupted into full laughter and Zell along with Quistis, followed soon after.

"Assholes," I fumed.

"She was so scared," Selphie exclaimed.

"I know, I know!" Zell roared.

"Oh I felt so bad at first but then it was just so worth it," Quistis joined the two other shits.

They had me and I had no way to recover. I just had to stand there and admit defeat, no matter how irritating their laughs got.

Irvine walked in and a smile spread across his face seeing everyone laughing. He scanned the room and he saw me just standing there looking upset. His smile slowly slipped away. Ha! This was my chance. I made a real cute pouty face at him showing my deepest sadness. I think I might've even managed to get a tear going. Fake crying was harder than it seemed.

"Aww guys what you do to Rinoa?" He asked to the room.

"We did the Seifer gummy worms trick," Selphie happily told him.

"It's too soon," He immediately took my side seeing how sad I was. He rushed to my side and wrapped an arm around me. "Look how sad she is."

"And scared," I said to help push him a little more to my side.

"Yeah and scared," Irvine wrapped his second arm around me. "She's so terrified, she's practically shaking. I mean falling for that Seifer trick is just so embarrassing and stupid-"

Hey what?

"-I mean I don't know anyone dumb enough to fall for that. Being tricked by Selphie, come on Rin."

I shoved him away. "God dammit!" I cursed.

Irvine shrugged, "I know when a girls faking it, sorry".

"I hate this place," I pouted.

Too add to everything Squall walked in the room. "Hey Rinoa." I looked over at him and he froze mid-step. "…Are you crying?"

"Huh?" Oh shit I guess I did get some tears. I quickly wiped them away. "No I'm good."

He scanned the room suspiciously his eyes narrowing. "What did you guys do?"

"Seifer worms trick?" Zell explained.

"Oh," He seemed more relaxed.

"Yeah she fell for it good," Selphie cheered.

"Assholes." I frowned, couldn't they just let it go.

"Oh they didn't tell you who else fell for it huh?" Squall said knowing crossing his arms.

"No…no they didn't," I looked around the room seeing faces falling.

"I believe Irvine, Selphie, and Zell…Quistis was just never scared of Seifer so it didn't work." Squall smiled, "It's almost a ritual here, don't worry."

"Way to ruin it Squall," Zell complained.

"Don't you have someone to pick up?" Squall questioned.

"Oh shit!" Zell leaped from the couch and hurried to his room to prepare for whoever he was going to pick up.

Squall looked at me and I mouthed _thanks _to him. He nodded before heading to the closet.

"What was that about?" I asked Irvine.

Irvine winked, "Zell's got a certain someone he's going to get. First time anyone besides our group is allowed in our apartment. It's actually pretty big."

"Oh really?" Interesting.

"Squall you taking off?" Quistis asked.

"Yeah," He disappeared in the closet and came back out in a second. "Rinoa wanna come?"

"What!?" That wasn't just me that said that either.

"Girl talk!" Selphie shouted throwing a fist in the air.

She grabbed me and quickly dragged me over to Quistis. She then grabbed Quistis and yanked her out of the chair. She pulled us to the ground near the window walls. We crouched down and stuck our heads in close. I could see Irvine and Squall share a confused look. Well Squall was confused, Irvine knew how girls could be.

"Why's he bringing me?" I asked worriedly. "Isn't this a huge thing?"

"Yeah it is," Selphie agreed.

"Could it be because Seifer's busy?" I proposed.

Quistis shook her head. "No he didn't have to go out and get alcohol, it's not life or death."

"Uh Quisty, it def is." Selphie said.

I giggled but was lost in a second with the seriousness. "So then why me?"

"Maybe he wants to get to know you better," Selphie guessed.

"No way," I hissed, "Why would he? I thought he was like emotionless."

"He's just a little preoccupied," Quistis clarified.

"Oh Rinny this is your chance," Selphie practically squealed with delight.

"Chance for what?"

She gave me a look "To get closer with Squall."

"I don't wanna get closer with him," I said aghast.

"Oh please," Selphie wasn't buying it.

"You know it's pretty much couple tonight so you might as well," Quistis added.

"Wait what?"

"Me and Irvine, Quistis and Seifer, Zell and that Kristi girl who you'll meet soon. So that just leaves you and Squall, it's bound to happen especially with the powers of alcohol."

"Selphie no that's just…no." I couldn't end up with Squall, it would be too weird. "Besides we're getting off topic…why'd he choose me to go?"

"I don't know," Quistis said honestly, "But you might as well go and maybe he'll tell you. Besides all this wondering it is a very good idea for you to go. It will help your training and stuff."

"She's right, Rin."

"Yeah I know, I know," I hung my head, "But I just can't stop wondering why he wanted to bring me."

"Maybe he wants to have dirty nasty doggy-style sex with you in the back of the car with your face pressed against the window so people walking by can see."

"Eww selphie!"

"I didn't say that…"

I looked to see Squall kneeling down behind Selphie and he must've done a stupid high pitched voice which would never work except this exact moment. He gave me a rare wide grin.

"Agh!" The three of us scream and darted away from him.

"You can't interrupt girl talk! It's a rule!" Selphie accused sticking her tongue out.

"Come on let's go," He ordered standing up, returning to his normal demeanor

"You're disgusting," I spat while wondering when Squall got a sense of humor.

"Whatever gets you three kids to break-up."

Quistis shook her head with a hand pressed against her forehead. "Just go Rinoa, and when you get back we'll have a big party."

"Yay!" Selphie cheered. She seemed to cheer whenever alcohol was mentioned.

I followed Squall towards the door but he stopped me at the closet.

"You need to get a cloak," He nodded his head into the closet.

"Why?" I said just realizing that he was wearing a black cloak himself. It was unzipped currently revealing a plain black long sleeve shirt underneath along with some jeans.

"You can't go killing people with jeans and some spaghetti-strapped thing."

"We're killing people?" I was taken back. "But it's Christmas Eve."

"We're only going to kill a couple," He told me.

"But this feels wrong…I thought we'd just be helping people like what you did last year."

He sighed, "Do you still not trust me?"

His question struck me in a way I'm sure he didn't intend. I learned that trust was a major issue with everyone. They all could trust Squall without ever second guessing him. That was true loyalty and I wished to reach that, but I kept second guessing him almost every time he even spoke. I know it's hard to just throw away all your logic and but all your faith in someone, but that's what I have to do.

"_Let me put it this way. If I tell you to jump off a bridge you better damn jump head first."_

His words from a couple days ago bounced around in my head. He needed my undying trust with everything and I would try my best to give it to him now. Tonight I'll do everything he says without question, and if everything works out…then obviously I should just trust him completely.

I went into the closet, my old torture chamber. There was a separate rack that just had six cloaks on it. "I don't have a cloak."

"Take Quistis," He told me.

"And how am I supposed to know which one that is?"

He stepped into the room and plucked one off. He handed it to me. "It might be a bit too big but that's better than being too small. We want that mysterious aspect."

It was a little big but nothing serious. Quistis was only a couple inches taller than me. It didn't drag on the ground at least but did hover just above it. The sleeves went past my hands but I figured it would actually be better because whenever you see a cloaked person you never see their hands. Even Squall's disappeared into the sleeves when he rested his arms straight down. So basically, I could definitely pull this off and look totally badass.

"Zip it up," Squall ordered.

I did as told and used the double zipper it had to adjust it perfectly so there was a small split at the bottom so I could walk but it was up right to my chin. I flipped the hood up over my head and let it hang down a little over my eyes.

"How I look?"

"Great," Selphie piped up.

"Spectacular babe," Irvine commented flipping his hair as he did.

"Really nice," Quistis smiled.

"Perfect," Squall said seriously. "Just keep your head down a little more to make sure no face is shown and learn to walk with your head down like that."

"There's a whole science to this huh?" I remarked.

Squall nodded fixing his own cloak. "Yeah I know on the news and cameras it looks like it's nothing, but we actually plan almost everything out. We all practiced standing in front of a mirror with these on to learn how far we can move without being seen."

"Makes sense."

"Okay let's go," He turned and I followed.

He explained a little more what we were doing on the elevator ride down.

"One of our hits is a group of guys," He started, "They are drug dealers, thieves, and all around thugs. They aren't very high in the underground but they are known. They are slowly rising and in doing so they made contact with one of our assets."

"We have assets?" That was new.

"More like Seifer's assets."

We reached the bottom and stepped out of the elevator. We headed over towards the weapon storage room. He placed his hand on the screen and typed the code in, which I might mention I know now. We stepped in and I was still amazed by all the weapons. The walls were covered with all types of handguns to semi-autos to even bigger guns. It was impressive as hell.

Squall picked up four hand guns with two double chest holsters. He handed me the holster and I gave him a glare as I had to unzip and take off my cloak to put it on. He did the same and then we slipped the two guns in the holsters. With the cloaks zipped back up it was impossible to tell we had weapons. Though I have to admit, two cloaked people were definitely suspicious but if it worked in the past then it must work and I said I was going to trust him tonight.

We grabbed a couple extra magazine clips and slipped them into our pockets. Then we grabbed an entire box of ammo and brought it along. He explained that we'd leave it in the car and restock the clips if we had too. It all made sense and I was amazed at the amount of planning and thinking ahead he did.

We got into a simple Pontiac with tinted windows…ya know for the mysterious thing this group seems to love. Once we pulled out of the garage he started explaining what was started on the elevator.

"Yeah so Seifer has some assets that he knew since he was a kid."

"I keep getting hints he lived in a bad place earlier."

Squall nodded, "Yeah he had a tough life until he was eighteen when he joined the police and met me. Things slowly got better for him after that, but it was helpful he lived the life he did. We now have many assets – as we call them – that help us figure stuff out. Kind of our eyes and ears on the streets."

"No wonder you guys know so much with what's going on. It isn't all just stuff you see in the news that everyone knows about but can never deal with."

"Exactly," He glanced at me briefly before looking back at the road. "I know since you've been with us you probably get the feeling we have just been doing big important hits. But that's not always the case, we usually go on little runs like this just to help get some of the little pieces of shit off the street."

I nodded not sure if he could even see it. "I know, I've seen Zell and others go out once in a while on…_errands_ I think they would say."

Squall shrugged, "We call it different things. You know saying we are going to go killing seems a little blood thirsty."

"Oh I understand don't worry."

Squall flashed me a brief smile. "Of course you do."

"So mission briefing?"

He chuckled, "So this group of guys have a habit of acting out on Christmas. They know no one wants to deal with anything on Christmas so it is the perfect time to get jobs done."

"Jobs?"

"Collecting money, stealing, making orders… anything and it tends to happen around Christmas. This also makes them more open since they aren't being as careful since no one wants to bother with them on Christmas. So open that we even know the apartment they're staying in."

"So this should be easy?" I asked unsure.

"Should be extremely simple," He glanced at me for a second before his eyes darted back to the road. "Although this isn't our only task, just our main one. We are going to hit these guys then walk around and see who can use our help. It's your first _walkabout _as we call it, but on Christmas Eve it shouldn't be too bad."

"I don't want you to hold back on me," I told him leaning my head against the window looking up at the sky.

"Trust me I'm not…tonight could be rough just like every night."

We rode in silence, nothing awkward or dreadful. Just a peaceful silence that I used to gaze at the scenery passing us. People always say there is nothing to look at in the city but there are people and lights and shops. It's even better at night and in the winter and especially on Christmas Eve. You have couple walking around and kids jumping up and down on the sidewalks. With the gentle snowfall it was very peaceful. However soon we left the nice business looking section of the city and headed towards the west side. The buildings began to look more run down and there was just people sitting on the street not really having anything else to do.

After another ten minutes Squall pulled the car to the side and turned it off. He looked at me. "This is serious, do as I say and be ready for anything. We have a couple blocks to walk, I did this one purpose. People will see us and recognize us, 'cause they do over here. This will be sending them a sign that we are doing our work. Trust me this is how we do it, you can look at people but don't let them see your face. It's scary when you know someone is seeing you but you can't see them, this is all mind game remember. Just walk right next to me and don't fall behind or go in front. And for god's sake don't fucking trip."

I scowled but nodded.

"Okay let's go."

We got out of the car and headed down the side walk. I kept my head down slightly so no light would touch my face but I still could see in front of me. Squall was right, everyone did recognize us and was watching us but acted like they weren't. Like if we caught them they'd be killed, it was strange having this power. Where people were automatically frightened of you simply because they recognized what group you were a part of. I wasn't too sure what to think about it, but it did make me wonder how many times the group came to these streets.

The snow was slowly falling and it left an eerie silence on these streets. Nothing peaceful but disturbing. It was strange how the same thing could be two opposites all depending on the location and situation. But as we were two black figures stepping through the white powder on the ground, it was clear we did not belong and yet we pressed onward.

After what seemed like forever Squall turned into an alley. We headed down and at the far end there was a big man sitting on a chair underneath a dirty light that was attached to the building. He was rubbing his hands together and blowing in them to keep them warm since he wasn't wearing gloves. He had a baseball cap on which couldn't have been doing much.

"Intimidation," I heard Squall quickly whisper.

We were a couple feet from the man when we saw us. He froze and couldn't stop staring. We walked right up to him and stopped. With the light above us it still kept our faces in shadow, at least most of our faces. I took a couple more steps so we could get a surrounding feel on the guy. I couldn't see Squall's face so I kept my head just like his knowing the man couldn't see mine either.

"Let us in," Squall's voice was more gruff than usual and I know he did it on purpose.

"No can do," He replied stronger than I thought he would be able to.

Squall tipped his head up a bit so his mouth would be visible. He let a small terrifying smile spread across his face. It was perfect and I remembered he admitted to practicing in the mirror. This man didn't know that and I could tell he was terrified even if he was bigger than both of us.

"Have you ever thought about death," Squall kept the small smile on his face.

"Listen B' I can't, so just go away"

Squall's head titled a little as if he was curious by the answer. "Your death won't be peaceful and neither will your afterlife. The demons will feast."

Now to me it sounds pretty silly…but thinking about it from this man's point of view. Two scary looking cloaked people are standing in front of him. He has a good guess that we are the Saints and we are now telling him we are going to kill him, as well as say crazy things like demons eating him. I would be pretty scared if I was him.

"I can't-"

Squall quickly unzipped some of his cloak and pulled out a gun, he jammed it into the man's mouth. "If you finish that statement…I will shoot."

The man's horrified eyes stared at the black void which would be Squall's face. Squall slowly removed the gun but kept it pressed against his head.

The man took a deep breath. "Fine, no skin off my bones just make sure they don't find me."

Squall's creepy smile returned. "Don't worry."

The man stood up and quickly hurried out of the alleyway.

Squall looked at me, "Don't ask me why I didn't just shoot him but I always have this feeling that the doormen should be left alive. Personal belief I suppose…or maybe since it's just Christmas Eve, either way let's go."

We walked into the shabby building and I followed after Squall. There was only one main path that lead from the backdoor. It lead to a black sketchy and rusty spiraling staircase. Squall must not have noticed or cared as he simply walked up it smoothly sliding his hand on the railing causing pieces of rust and grime to fall off. As we climbed the stairs he explained his strategy.

"Now I believe there are three guys," Squall started, "We go in and shoot the middle and then aim at the other two. With one of those two I am going to go on this really weird long rant. When you think I'm close to the end I want you to shoot the guy I'm directing it at,In the middle of my sentence, just cut me off. Then we'll get into an argument and just take it from there."

"That's it," I grumbled. "No intricate complex unique plan."

"Oh it is," Squall chuckled, "Just not taking the time to explain it all and it could go so differently not worth explaining it. Better to keep you on your toes than expect something to happen."

Damn, does he always have a logical reason?

He stopped in front of a door. How did he know this was the door…I have no idea. Same way he knew the building I suppose. He glanced at me pulling out his handgun. I copied his actions and gave him a nod.

"Shoot the middle guy then you take the left and I'll take the right."

I nodded again.

He tipped his handgun three times signaling the count-down. On the third one he kicked the door open and we both stepped in side by side with our guns fully extended.

What was I feeling? Fear, nerves, excitement, adrenaline. Too many things. Who too shoot, where too shot them, how many times should I shoot them, are there really only three guys, what if they knew we were coming? I was thinking so many things in so little amount of time. But this is why I was trained, my body reacted before my brain could register what to do.

We stepped in and there were two guys sitting across from each other near a coffee table with white shit on it, probably crack. There was another guy further left sitting on a chair watching a crappy TV that was pressed against the wall directly to our left. Following Squall's plan we both unloaded four bullets into the middle man, the guy sitting on the left side of the coffee table. He took them all in the chest falling backwards, arms failing and blood spraying.

Then we pointed our guns at our different targets. I aimed it at the man sitting in the chair watching TV and Squall took the guy sitting at the right side of the coffee table. They were so shocked they didn't even move by the time we stood in front of each of them. They just sat there staring at us in shock as if this wasn't happening.

Finally the guy who was near Squall spoke. "Muthafucker! What did you do that for?"

"Terrell Otis," Squall's voice was rather light and smooth this time.

"No, that was TO," The man gestured with his head to the dead guy lying on the ground looking slightly scared.

"Oh…"Squall shrugged he flicked his gun in a pointing motion to the man talking. "Frank Smith?

"No, that's him," The man nodded at the person I had my gun pointed too.

"Michael Stewart?"

"Yes that's me." Stewart looked back at Otis. "Did you have to shoot the muthafucker?"

Squall shrugged again, "Technically I was hoping to kill you and ask him a question. Guess you lucked out...well maybe all depends if you can answer my question."

"Okay…" The man glanced at me before looking back at Squall. "What's the question?"

Squall put his gun down at his side and pulled his hood down. "Have you ever seen Cheers?"

"What kinda fucking question is that?"

"Mother fucker!" Squall yelled pointing the gun back up at his head. "Listen Stewart if I ask you a question you better damn answer it."

"Alright, alright!" He exclaimed putting his hands up and leaning away from the gun.

"Now have you ever seen Cheers?"

"The TV show?"

Squall cocked his gun, "God damn Steward you really doing this?"

"No! No I haven't seen it!"

"Damn," Squall looked defeated and put his gun back down. "You see I only ask 'cause I haven't seen it either. But I always want and yet…I don't. Do you know what I mean?"

"What?"

Squall looked at me, "Boy's wishing for his death."

I shrugged casually trying to ply along.

"Did you hear me Stewart?" Squall asked him. "Or is there shit stuffed in your ears?"

"No I heard you."

"Then how come you can answer that question?"

"I don't know."

Squall did an intimidating chuckle. "Oh Stewart if there's one thing you need to know, I hate, _hate_, when people answer a question with I don't know. Obviously they know otherwise they wouldn't have anything to say. But you didn't know that about me so I'll let that one slide, one more and there will be a bullet in your head. Understand?"

"Yes," Michael nodded slowly.

"Good man," Squall laughed, "Now back to Cheers. You see, I never saw it but for some reason I always imagined how it would be. I always imagined whenever anything happened the characters would just shout '_cheers!_' They could say it for anything, I imagined some guy walking in and sitting down and saying something like 'I just got my paycheck' and everyone in the bar would shout _cheers!_"

Squall started laughing harder and put a foot up on the coffee table. He leaned heavily on his knee laughing with his head down. "I always thought of this one part where some guy would walk in and be like 'well…I just divorced my wife' and every mother fucker in that bar would just go _cheers!_" Squall looked up at me, "I mean it's just such a bad thing but they'd still say it. It would be hilarious"

Squall turned back to Stewart, "Do you think that's funny?"

"I don't know."

"Oh dangerous!" Squall shouted.

"I mean no!" Stewart recovered.

"No?" Squall looked perplexed.

"I mean yes?"

"Don't change your mind," Squall told him. "Don't lie to me either, that's just as bad."

"Then no."

"You sure?"

"Yes."

"Alright then," Squall stood back up straight, "Strange I always thought that would be funny. I suppose that's just my imagination. Still that's the problem, it's all my imagination…I've never seen the show so I don't know what they do. I want to watch it to see if they shout cheers every time something happens but what if they never do say it. Then my thoughts on that show will be ruined forever. Ya know?"

"Yeah that's some hard shit you got there," Stewart replied.

"Damn right." Squall paused and took a breath. "See because real life is boring, when something happens there should just be something to say to bring attention to it. I mean you can't very well just say 'hey look at me' before you do something, you'll get some strange ass looks because you'll be a deranged little fucker. There should be some word to say that just brings attention."

"I agree," Stewart said.

"You do? That's great!" Squall laughed happily. "I was worried I wasn't making sense. You know in some Centrian roots they have the word 'ecce' and it's strictly for emphasis. So when you are saying something you can say 'ecce' with it and people know it's important. How come Galbadian doesn't have that? Where is our emphasis?"

"It's a good point," Stewart was starting to relax a bit but was still very tense, with good reason.

"I know right? I tell this to so many mother fuckers and they just don't understand, I'm glad us two mother fuckers can."

"I gotcha B' don't worry," Stewart laughed.

"I know you do Stewart, I know you do," Squall shook his head laughing along. "So you'll understand when I shout _cheers_ right before shooting you."

"What!?" Stewart looked horrified.

"Well I need more emphasis and my emphasis before shooting you will-"

_**BANG!**_

Stewart toppled over with his head half exploding. My gun still pointing in his direction. The man sitting in the chair in front of me began crying. Squall just looked at me shocked and pissed.

"What did you go and do that for?"

I pulled my hood down. "You were taking fucking forever. Just kill these guys and let's go."

"What _these guys_. There's only one left. God damn I was bonding with Stewart, why'd ya go and kill him?"

"Because my feet are sore for standing so long listen to your bitchy story about what you think Cheers is about. I'll tell you what's about, a fucking bar where people don't shout cheers all the time. It's about me getting off my fucking feet by putting another bullet in this man's head sitting right here."

"You haven't seen Cheers don't act like you have," Squall waved his gun at me.

"I don't give a damn if I have or haven't," I replied sounding upset. "I don't sit and worry about having _emphasis _before I do something. Besides in Galbadia we simply stress a word that we feel important. Example: I wanna get the _fuck outtahere_ and I can, if I _kill _this little faggot. It lets you know what my problem is and how it can be resolved. Do you comprehend that?"

"You on your period again?"

"Listen I'm just going to shoot this guy here and then leave, and if you wanna stay and watch some fucking Cheers then by all means watch that shit. But I'm going home so I don't have to stand here and smell this shitty place filled with assholes."

"Please don't kill me," The man begged crying.

"Hey stop that, it's annoying," I ordered waving my gun disapprovingly. Surprising myself I was able to fight off the feeling of pity, maybe because I was so caught up in my character…whatever it was.

"Look just let me live, I'll tell you whatever you need to know." The man fell to his knees and grabbed my cloak.

"We don't need to know anything," I shoved him off me.

Wow I'm quite heartless.

Squall strolled over causally. "…well actually…"

I snapped my head angrily at him, I suppose we were doing good assassin bad assassin. Me strangely being the bad assassin. "What do you have to ask him?"

Squall knelt down and looked at the cowering man. "Have you ever seen Cheers?"

"Fuck no," I exclaimed. "We are not going through this shit again."

"I'm kidding," Squall laughed glancing at me before turning back to Frank. "Where is your warehouse?"

"…we don't have one," He responded in such a way it was an obvious lie.

Squall stood up and cocked his gun, and pointed it at Frank. "Cheers mother fucker."

"Wait wait!" He held up his hands in a pitiful defense. "It's not a warehouse it's just a house on South Street in the dumps."

"What house?" Squall's voice dropped back .

"It's a yellow one," He cried out. "It's the only one on the block, you can't miss it."

Squall smiled brightly, "Great."

He put his gun in his left hand and tipped it up. I tapped mine against his making a small metallic clash.

"Cheers." We said in unison before unloading on the man.

Was it heartless? Yes in a way. Did we ever say we'd let him go? No, not at all. Did he deserve it? Certainly. Did anyone actually expect us to let him go? Of course not. Squall didn't have to tell me anything, I knew all three would never make it out.

Squall looked at me, "You alright?"

"Yeah," I replied honestly. "Weird that all this didn't bother me, especially when he begged."

"Well that could be good or bad, we just don't know yet," Squall let his clip fall out and he drew another form his pocket slipping it in his handle. "Either way, good work I'm proud of you. You played along better than I thought you would. God knows Zell didn't when I did this."

"Wait…what?" He did not just test me.

A sly smile hit his face. "I'm always testing you Rinoa." He told me as if he knew I was thinking it. "That was the most ridiculous rant with almost no point except sounding crazy. You played right along and made it work. Zell couldn't, I basically just shot the guys because it got embarrassing."

Before I could say how mad I was he just tested me, something unexpected happened.

Another man walked through the door. He was carrying a fast-food bag and froze when he saw us. Squall reacted instantly and shot him once in the head. The man dropped to the ground with food tumbling out of the bag.

"I'm sorry Squall," I turned to him. "Did you say four guys, because I swear I heard three."

He growled, "He wasn't in the room."

I tipped my head looking at him. "I believe he's in the room."

"He walked in after, doesn't count."

"I'm pretty sure he's in it now," I countered.

"His feet are out and that's what matters."

"How's that matter, half…wait no, the majority of him is in the room. Obviously that means he's in the room."

"If you are leaning over a cliff but your feet are still on the ground, that means you aren't falling over the cliff. Which means you are not in the cliff if your feet are still on the edge…therefore if your feet are not in a room you are not in that room."

"That mother fucker," I pointed my gun at him. "would be halfway down the cliff in that position, which means he is in fact in the room. Face it Squall…you miscalculated and you're wrong."

He growled, "We're leaving."

I smiled triumphantly.

We left the building and walked back to the sidewalk. We stood there for a moment, he pulled out a carton of his smokes. He tapped the box causing one to slip out, he pressed it between his lips and put them back in his cloak. He pulled out a lighter, lit his cigarette and took a deep drag.

"Why don't you quit?"

He gave me a curious look. "Why do you care?"

I frowned, "Of course I care."

He took another drag and blew it into the night sky. "I'm addicted that's why."

"Well you can break the addiction."

He chuckled, "Ever try to break something you're addicted to? It's almost impossible, you really need something worth it to quit. Something you crave more than your body craves the nicotine."

"Seifer did it."

"He had Quistis."

I tipped my head, "So a girl's worth it then."

He nodded, "Most women hate smokers so when you really like someone and they tell you to quit, you'll quit pretty easily."

"Well I'm telling you to quit," I told him seriously.

He gave me a humorous look. "If you have sex with me every time I have a craving then I'll stop. Because that's what Quistis basically had to do."

"Wow…strong girl."

He brought the cigarette up to his lips again but glanced at me. I must've had a really sad or worried look on my face. He cursed and threw it to the ground stepping on it. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the carton. He shook it in my face and then threw it behind him.

"No more tonight or tomorrow," He told me. "It'll be my Christmas present."

"A real present will be if you try to stop."

He shrugged, "We'll see." He began walking and I followed after him.

"There car's the other way," I told him.

"I know…something I gotta do. Just don't say anything."

We turned the corner of the building and crossed the street. I realized we were heading towards a car, which I now saw was unmarked…obviously cops. I didn't want to question Squall but walking up to cops dressed like this, something they know the Saints wear. But Squall continued walking towards them strongly. Their headlights were off and I could easily see in the car, they looked worried and were trying to figure out what to do.

"Stay in front of the car with your head down," He whispered to me. Squall casually strolled up to the driver side window and knocked. The driver slowly rolled down the window extremely confused.

"Umm yes?"

"South Street in the dumps," Squall told them with a deep tone. "Check it out, you'll find what you need."

"Who are you?"

"Merry Christmas," Squall said turning and leaving. I followed after him and I wanted to run but if he wasn't, I wouldn't.

"Don't worry, they won't chase us," I swear he could read my mind. "They just got valuable information and will let us leave as a trade, or they are afraid to chase us. They know what we can do and how dangerous we can be, most cops would not want to go after us. We don't bother them so why should they bother us."

"Makes sense," I nodded.

On the way back to the car it started to snow…I can't really describe it. If you haven't had a night like this before then you just can't understand. The snow fell slowly and thickly, just drifting down from the sky. It landed lightly on the ground and settled snuggly in. Everything was quiet, there wasn't a single sound and that was miraculous in the city. The yellow lights suddenly turned golden, and the broken down buildings drifted away as the clean snow covered them. As we walked in the middle of the salt-stained white streets, the snow landed on my cloak and rested easily.

It was breath-taking. It was wondrous how snow could take ugly city like this and turn it into something beautiful. It gave you such a relaxed feeling and it is impossible to describe, a person must experience it themselves to understand. It makes you feel so small in the world but in a good way. Like nothing's wrong and everything will be alright. I could walk all night in snow like this.

"Do you like this snow?" I asked him.

"It's cold."

"That's not a no," I pressed.

He shrugged but didn't say anything more and I didn't press any further.

It made me wonder if it affected Squall in this way. If he found it amazing and spectacular or just a nuisance. I don't know how one wouldn't be dumbfounded by this, but maybe he could be. His life has so much torment in it I don't think he can enjoy the simple things anymore. I wish I knew more about him, I wish I could help him in some way. He always had a far off look in his eyes and never in a good way. He just needs to relax more and tonight I would try to get him to relax and be at ease, if only for one night.

**Squall's POV.**

"Moosebutter!" Zell shouted holding his hands behind his head like ears…or antlers…I don't know…something. Soon everyone else at the table copied him and when Rinoa was the last to do it she cursed loudly. Everyone laughed as she grabbed a bowl of who knows what and began gulping it down. Someone was going to get alcohol poisoning tonight that much was for certain.

After we took care of the three assholes we made our away around the city. We dumped off loads of cash for anyone who seemed to need it. We found one man mugged and lost. He didn't want to go to the hospital; he just wanted to be with his family that night. So we gave him as lift and he thanked us greatly. It was a nice feeling helping people out without killing others. After we basically did all we thought we could for that night,we returned to the apartment.

As soon as we returned Selphie grabbed Rinoa and began making drinks. Everyone else pretty much was talking at first but soon the games were broken out. People would join in and out, even me once in a while. It was pretty entertaining and everyone seemed to be having a good time. Even that Kristi girl Zell brought.

Now as it passed midnight I knew in an hour everyone would start returning to their own rooms. I settled myself down in my gold ol' armchair. Everyone else was currently at the table playing some game called Moosebutter. It seemed pretty ridiculous and I wasn't too sure how to play. I just know the loser had to drink a bowl of whatever people decided to put in it and I do mean anything. I walked by and saw Captain Crunch drifting around a murky thick mess of so many types of alcohol. Whoever drank that bowl once would be gone for the rest of the night.

I believe that was Rinoa's second.

"Here."

Seifer handed me another Guinness and plopped down on the couch. He had his own Guinness as he leaned back and outstretched an arm.

"How'd she do?"

"Ah ya know, fine, perfect, dandy even, if I dare say."

I froze and Seifer gave me a horrifying look, and then it slowly slid into a smile. "I think someone had a little too much?"

"Me arse." I froze again.

Seifer began laughing louder. "Your Balambian accent is showing."

I coughed and took a breath. "Fuck you, it definitely isn't."

He dropped his smile, "Why don't you just let it come out?"

"Because I don't want to." I sent him a glare.

"Fine, fine," He held up his hands defensively. "But seriously, how'd she do."

"Great," I responded. "Better than expected, she can work off me perfectly. She didn't lose her cool either. I was afraid of that since the J.R. job but it seemed she was just nervous her first time. I think she'll be perfect for this team."

"That's good news," He took a sip of his beer. "So now what?"

"We keep training her until she is the best in this house. She has that potential and I want her to realize it."

"You sure you aren't expecting too much from her, she just joined a couple months ago. Give her some time."

I took a drink, "She can handle it, hell it wouldn't surprise me if in a year she was better than all of us."

Seifer narrowed his eyes, "You expect that much out of her?"

"I didn't at first, now I do."

"Well you're the leader," Seifer raised his bottle before tipping it to his lips.

I thought for a moment before asking a serious question. "Do you ever wish you were the leader?"

Seifer gave me a confused look before laughing loudly. He stood up and walked by me, slapping my cheek slightly as he did. "You're drunk."

And I suppose I was. People began turning in after a while longer. First Seifer grabbed Quistis and they made their way to one of their rooms, not sure which. Next Kristi, not Zell, made the move to his room, which was indeed surprising since she seemed to be undeniably shy. Selphie and Rinoa were signing some song when Irvine grabbed Selphie's hand and led her away.

If you did your math correctly, seeing how it wasn't very hard, that left me and Rinoa. She smiled at me and made her way over. She had a bottle of Grey Goose in her as she decided it would be better and shorter to climb over the couch. No surprise or shock when she pretty much just rolled over it and onto the floor.

"Don't worry!" She shouted holding up the bottle, "nothing spilled."

"Careful love," I reached down and helped her up.

She got real excited, "Your accent…yes! I finally heard it!" She cheered and began climbing onto my lap. She straddled my lap spreading her legs on either side of mine. She took a big gulp straight from the bottle while resting her hand on my chest. It looked hard for her to swallow that gulp and it took her a moment but after she held a victorious grin.

When we got back from our business earlier we both changed. I simply wore jeans and a nice red button-down shirt. Hey even I dressed a little for Christmas. Rinoa had decided to wear a mini skirt with a nice cute white blouse. To say it suited her was a huge understatement; truth of the matter is it made her look downright sexy.

Now she was straddling me with her eyes staring in my mine. Her free hand cupped my face and I could see her wobble a bit from the alcohol's affects.

"Allow me to explain to you…how hot you are," She gave me a cute smirk with eyes that held devilish intentions.

"Well don't mind if ya do," I replied resting my hands on the chair's arms.

"Now I'm drunk so don't expect anything too _pathetic_," She told me.

"Poetic?" I suggested.

She looked at me for a moment confused and I could see her mind cranking. "…yes that one."

I chuckled, "Well go ahead then," This will be good.

"You're eyes are so gorgeous, like it's not even fair," She started still rested his hand on my face. "I swear they just draw me in every time I see them, I can't look you in the eyes half the time I talk to you otherwise I might just jump you… jump you."

"Well t'ank ya," Interesting, I should stop her especially since she's repeating words but hell I'm too drunk…or that's my excuse. I'm really not that gone.

She giggled, "and now that I hear you accent it's just as attractive." She brought the bottle up to her lips but I grabbed it.

"I t'ink ya had enough love," I told her gently.

She frowned, "Fine." She leaned backwards to put it on the ground but of course lost her balance. I grabbed her around the waist to make sure she didn't fall. She just set the bottle down and laughed.

She turned back to me and started to explain why I was so 'hot' again. "Your cute little shaggy hair that just fall over your eyes." She shook my hair roughly. "Your mysteriously sexy scar that cuts down your face." She ran a finger down my scar slowly, sending a surprising tingle.

She placed both her hands on my cheeks and leaned forward until her forehead rested against mine. I felt my arms move tighter around her and I was pretty sure my mind didn't tell them to do that. I rubbed my thumbs up and down slightly against her back.

"Your lips…" She whispered so softly. "They look so rough and dangerous, like if I kiss them my life will end….why is that? How can your lips send that signal?"

"'Cause love, maybe it's the truth," I whispered back gruffly.

She giggled softly, "I love you calling me love. Please keep doing it."

"Of course love." I smirked.

"Oh god that smirk," She breathed deeply closing her eyes for a moment as if intoxicated…which she was. "If it's anything about you it's that smirk, that's what has me."

"Oh it does, does it?" I formed another smirk just for her.

She leaned forward so slowly that I would almost mistake her not moving. "I just…wanna…" Her eyes were so passion filled staring right into mine. Her lips were so close, I could feel her breath on mine. "Taste it."

She licked my lips and that got me. I used my hands to press her against me as I kissed her hard. She returned it eagerly as her hands grabbed fistfuls of my hair. I pressed my tongue against her teeth asking for entrance and she quickly allowed passage. My tongue played with hers in a dance of pure lust as the momentum was increasing.

We broke apart quickly and then she came right back at me. She bit my lower lip and pulled back giggling as she did. I chuckled as I pushed her head back to mine so I could continue the hot kisses. My hands moved to her smooth legs and slowly slid up her legs until they were under the skirt. I start massaging her thighs and I could tell she was enjoying it. Next I felt my tongue being bitten and I started to wonder how dirty Rinoa was in bed.

We had to break apart for a breath and she licked my lips once again. She gave me the sexiest and devilish smile I'd ever seen. Her eyes twinkled with lust as she dove at my neck. She placed hot kiss and I tipped my head back for better access. My fingers lopped around the lace of her panties. Her mouth moved to my ear and nibbled on it before saying three words.

"Fuck me Squall."In such a desperate meaningful whisper, they came out like a pleading beg for sanity.

I'd like to imagine if she wasn't piss poor drunk she would've said it a little more romantically or cleverly or well…not so blatant. Like 'ready for bed' or 'take me away' or 'make love to me' or anything. But there is a special power with that certain statement. It's because a guy rarely hears it, when he does it's so appealing for some reason, more so than the other statements. It's giving the guy power in such a strong way. It's dirty, it's raunchy, it's sexy and it's too inviting to ever pass up.

But I also knew Rinoa wasn't thinking for herself. I wished to God I drank more Guinness's to lose the conscious I still had…but I didn't.

I pushed her away from me and looked seriously into her confused eyes. "You're drunk."

"So?"

"Oh god what a fucking good point." I pulled her back to me and we began once again. It didn't last long and I pushed her away. "Wait no, not okay."

She pouted, "Squall I like you, that isn't just tonight okay, so don't worry. I'm not gonna regret this tomorrow."

"I will," I told her strongly, "So no more."

She growled but turned around fixed herself in my lap. She rested her head against my back and I rested my chin on her head. My arms wrapped around her and she rested her hands on my arms.

I wasn't sure what to say but I knew I had to say something. If the silence remained too long I'm sure it would only get more awkward. I was forcing myself to sober up, yes that is possible and it was in full effect right now.

Luckily I wouldn't have to think of anything to say. I heard a soft noise and I realized her breathing also regulated. She was asleep. I took a relieving sigh and relaxed. Maybe she'll just sleep the rest of the night.

And so I sat there with a beautiful girl on my lap and something strange happened. I found myself smiling, but I didn't make it, it was out of reaction…but nothing was happening. I was actually smiling because I was feeling happy and peaceful. That almost never happened to me, especially when I was left alone to my thoughts. I always thought of horrid things but now…I couldn't think of a single bad thing.

I looked out the large windows onto the breathtaking city. With all the lights sparking in the distance and the steady snowfall it was magical. I can't describe it, it's not possible. The snow fell so gently…so softly…so peacefully. It wasn't storming or swirling…just falling. I don't know why it had such an effect on me, but it did. I just stared on and on, never turning my head, never looking at anything specific. Just the wondrous nature outside that seemed to bring happiness with it. It reminded me about the time walking through the forest with Rinoa. That was almost as peaceful and the scenery was even more beautiful.

It made me wonder…was it the snow or Rinoa. I gently rubbed her arm with my thumb as I continued to gaze out of the windows. Her warm body kept me warm and gave me this feeling of security, which was beyond my comprehension. I just knew I really enjoyed the fact she was sleeping on my lap. With her and the view…I never felt this at ease before not that I could remember.

There was silence in the apartment except the heating vents blowing a constant stream of warmth. The world outside was in a still as well in here. It was another thing that added onto the overall effect that was taking hold of me.

_Not a creature was stirring…not even a mouse_.

I wondered if that line meant what I was experiencing right now. Such a peculiar statement and I never understood it. Why would I care if nothing was stirring…especially a mouse? But there was something about the quietness, something I couldn't place. In all Christmas stories and movies there is almost always a night scene where one or two people are just sitting and watching it snow. There is almost never any activity and I never could fathom why every movie had that. Now I do…I don't know why, but this feeling that comes with the stillness, the snow, the silence.

I've never felt this before, and I made me wonder why I couldn't feel this way all the time. Is this how some people felt? Are some people lucky enough to wake up at peace every day? I smiled because I knew someone out there, even if just one, did wake up and feel this every day. Even if I couldn't, I would be the person to feel regret, pain, fear, and sorrow every day so that others wouldn't have to. I promise that I'll be the one to take it all on so others can live happily.

But for tonight…I'll be selfish and be happy.

**Ha little tease for ya there. Don't worry more on the way, i actually hope to get the next chapter up before Christmas...no promises. I'm trying but i want to get other stories updated as well, i always get in the writing mood for Christmas. Review and thank my Beta 'cause i always make him work hard on his Christmas break. **


	14. Christmas

Yeah so i'm technically a little late but whateves it's close enough so i'm still saying Merry Christmas. Hey little fun fact, last chapter and some of this chapter was the first chapter i thought out for this fic except for the second chapter (Assassination). Also like last November (2008) i thought to myself if i'd be able to get to this chapter out by Christmas and i was at like chapter 7 or something. Then i figured maybe i'd be able to wait to like next Christmas but i was like, that would be too long. But looky here, it's next Christmas and i'm updating so guess i did wait that long. Anyways no more delays here's your chapter.

One more thing, I scanned over the chapter when i put it on this site and realized like some spaces were taken out and shit. No idea why but if you see some spaces missing, i tried to get them out but i'm sure i missed some.

And one more delay, As the only possible Christmas gift i can give to people i don't know outside of fanfiction. This chapter is dedicated to FaithFromTheMystick hope you enjoy it.

* * *

**December 25**

**Squall's POV**

I don't know how long I sat there, I never fell asleep. I think I was enjoying the moment too much. The peace and stillness in it all, which is why I noticed right away when Rinoa shifted. She moved her head and tipped it back to look into my eyes. Her hand slowly reached up behind my head. She pulled me towards her until my lips were rested on hers. I pulled back and gave her a confused look. She only smiled innocently and pulled my head back down.

This is the kind of situation that completely throws a guy off everything he stands on. It's been at least a couple hours, which means she's sobered up…a little. I know she's still pretty wasted but she's kissing me again. After sleeping and waking up, that's the first thought on her mind. That means she really wants it, right? Why would she start this all up again? I mean…was she that horny. It had to have more implication than a simple need of lust.

I realized that during the storm of thoughts swirling in my head, I had actually been kissing her that whole time. We stop for a breath and she looks into my eyes.

"Trust me Squall," She whispers her lips brushing against mine as she spoke.

I know all I have to do is say no again. I know saying that will instantly stop her oncomings and most likely have her fall back asleep. I thought the words would come easily out of my mouth but they couldn't leave my tongue. For there was hesitation in my actions because I was falling into the moment more and more every passing second.

"Please," She murmured.

"…okay." I answered not surprisingly myself all that much.

She smiled happy with it and turned herself on my lap. Our lips met once again softer than the previous time. She moved her other hand to my cheek and I wrapped mine tighter around her body. Throughout the kiss she kept slowly turning her body to get in a better position. As she did I could feel her deepen the kiss and I knew soon there would be a lot more passion involved. She eventually positioned herself back to how she was earlier, straddling me with her legs on either side of mine. She places both her hands on my face as the kiss deepens further. This is where the tongues start becoming intertwined once again and things continue to heat up.

Her breath starts becoming quicker and when I think about it, mine is as well.

"Rin…" Holy shit did I just whisper her name. Guess I was getting a little more involved than I thought I would.

Her hands dropped to my shirt as she began unbuttoning them. Likewise I moved to her blouse and started the same procedure. The kiss, of course, never stopped this whole time as we both became more energetic. It started to get so intense in fact that Rinoa wasn't going to waste any time unbuttoning my shirt. She just grabbed the two halves in her fists and ripped them apart popping almost every button in the process. She grabbed my undershirt and roughly yanked up. I didn't even get my arms up in time so there was a moment it was caught around my head.

She only giggled as I finally lifted my arms up enough for her to pull my undershirt and my now button-less shirt off. She smiled as her hands ran over my stomach which I was quite proud off. It took a lot of work to get it the way it was and now was the time it paid off. I'm vain enough to say it was a turn on for women.

However, while she was examining my so perfectly sculpted stomach I was still unbuttoning her shirt. She was right, buttons were overrated. I just ripped her shirt apart to find her strapped undershirt. I felt her kissing my neck as I attempted to lift her blouse and undershirt off. She didn't lean back until it was up to her neck, then she sat back and lifted her arms. Seeing the blouse and undershirt removed was a great sight, but not perfect. There was one thing still blocking me.

I skillfully unhooked the bra, with one hand I might add 'cause I'm that awesome. I slipped it off Rinoa and chucked it over my head. It was out of the way now, don't care where it went. Rinoa sat back for a moment; whole upper half exposed. She smirked as my eyes scaled her perfect body, not totally surprised by their size. I couldn't help but check her out every now and then, especially when both live in one apartment. She grabbed my hands and lead them up to her exposed self in a slow unbearably sexy way. Her skin was so smooth under my rough callous hands. I reached the desired destination and enjoyed the feel while she closed her eyes for a moment enjoying it as well.

She then leaned forward and began kissing my neck hotly. I ran my hand down her back enjoying the feel of her on my skin. Rinoa giggled into my neck and I knew she was enjoying this so I didn't have any regrets yet. They might come later but not now so I can continue happily. Her one hand was running through the grooves of my stomach while her other was over my shoulder onto my back. She turned it into a claw as she pulled it back up while she bit my neck mischievously.

I pulled her back in front of me and placed my lips on hers. And this time I lead the hot passionate kiss pressing into her. My hands found her chest once again and she let out a soft moan feeling the heat rising. Her hand dropped to my belt and I knew this would soon reach the next level. She undid my belt and my pants. Her breath quickened against mine and I knew she was building already.

As soon as I was exposed she didn't even wait for me to get my pants all the way off. Nor did she want to waste time taking her skirt and panties off. She simply pulled her panties out of the way, grabbed me, and settled herself on.

She bit my chin as she let out a slow gasping sigh. "It's been so long."

My eyebrow quircked, "How long?"

"Summer," She replied reading herself by placing her hands on my shoulders.

"Same," I replied resting my hands on her hips and as I did I moved my hips a bit into her.

She took and intake of breath quickly and giggled after words. "You tease."

I chuckled happily; this was indeed going to happen. When suddenly she froze and her eyes opened up. Fear swept through me that maybe she didn't want to do this. Maybe she was asleep this whole time, like sleep walking but…sleep sexing. It was possible, maybe. Either way whatever was going on with her wasn't good and it proved true.

In a flash she dove off me and onto the floor. She scampered on her hands and knees to the kitchen. I was extremely shocked and confused until I saw her pull the trash can onto the floor and stick her head in it. Needless to say the sounds of vomiting ensued.

I let out a sigh and looked down. "Down boy, not tonight."

I zip my pants back up and slowly stand up with her retching in the background. I walk over behind the armchair and she looked so pathetic. Shirtless with a skirt on and her head completely inside the medium sized trash can. I saw her body start to shake like it always does when she vomits. Her legs slowly curled up bringing he knees to her chest in the feeble position.

I picked up the bra off the floor and made my way over to her. I sat on the floor next to her and slowly rubbed her back. She stopped and waited but nothing more came. She withdrew her head from the trashcan and slowly sat up. I let her lean against me to keep her balance. I slipped the bra back on her and attached it in the back. Did I ever think I'd _put_ a bra on a women? The answer to that obvious question is no, never. I was just glad she was in such a rush earlier she didn't take her panties off.

She let out a whimper and I could see how much she hated this. She went from almost complete bliss to a miserable sick feeling. She looped an arm around my shoulder to help keep her balance. So apparently she was still very much intoxicated.

"You wanna just sit here a while?" I asked softly.

She let out a groan and nodded. Her head just hung like if she moved in anyway more vomit would ensue. I even saw some tears run down her cheeks and I felt such pity for her. She hated puking so much and yet it seemed to happen to her than most. Just her luck I suppose.

After about ten minutes I asked if she wanted to go to bed. She nodded her head making another noise that wasn't really anything I could make out. Apparently she was in no mood to talk anymore but that's alright, she didn't need too. I helped her stand slowly and she was very wobbly. I instantly knew she would never make the walk to her room so I swept her up carefully in my arms, making sure not to be too quick with it.

I made my way down to her room very slowly making sure not to bobble her too much. Her eyes were closed and her head rested against my bare chest. She had a loose arm around my neck that I knew wasn't giving her any real support. Her other arm was draped across her stomach almost as if holding the pain. She would make a whimper every once in a while just outing her total hatred of the situation.

I finally reached her door and opened it. But when I took a step in her hand shot out and grabbed the door frame. She looked me in the eyes and I could see the urgency in them. I quickly back stepped and headed into the bathroom. I set her down and as soon as she touched the ground her stomach retched and her nightmare began all over again.

After a break between the puking, her legs she was balancing on collapsed, and she would've fallen over if I wasn't holding her. I let her lean her back into my chest to keep straight up. She continued to let out small noises that could almost be classified as cute if it wasn't for the situation. She suddenly pushed off my chest and leaned over the toilet again. Me being the perfect gentlemen, held her hair back. I was just happy the sound didn't make me want to vomit, otherwise there would be a huge mess on our hands.

She stopped and leaned back into my chest completely drained and exhausted. Her head hung and she barely moved her arms. I reached over and flushed the toilet not wanting to smell that anymore.

"We'll sit here for a bit just in case," I told her comfortingly while I gently rubbed her arm.

She let out a small moan that I took for a yes, so we did. I just gently waited to for when she thought she would be ready. After a long amount of time I felt she was good. Her eyes were closed and I figured she went to sleep again, well not so much sleep as just pass out. But as I slowly lifted her, her eyes shot open, but only for a moment. Soon they drooped low again and I let her lean on the sink.

"Have some water," I suggested filling a cup. "Just to rinse at least."

I handed he the cup and she tipped it into her mouth. Then she simply leaned over the sink and just let it run out. She was a complete mess, barely able to move and barely awake. I was always amazed how in just a few moments alcohol can just turn someone into a wreck.

After a couple more cups of water she made a noise that I took for her being ready. I was actually pretty proud of myself for understanding half the shit that was being mumbled. I don't even think she was trying for words, that would be too much work.

I picked her up again, very softly of course. I carried her into her bedroom and gently laid her on her bed. I moved the covers over her and made sure she was nice and secure. Her head was rolled to the side with her eyes already closed ready to pass out again. I smiled despite everything.

I turned to leave but her hand shot out and grabbed my wrist. I was a little startled she was able to do that but her pleading eyes made me forget anything except her. I knew she wanted me to get in the bed with her and I figured there wasn't any harm in it.

"Okay, okay," I told her as I gently climbed in.

I laid on my back, as did she, but somewhat on me. I loosely draped my arm around her and I felt her fingers warp around my hand. She pulled it tighter around her till it rested on her stomach. She reached over and grabbed my other hand and also brought it to her stomach. She dug one of her legs between mine so they were entangled. So I was completely holding her, and then she finally laid still and I knew she was already asleep.

So I laid there, now with tons of new thoughts swirling around in my head. But I decided this wasn't the time to think about anything. This was the time to just feel the girl that I had my arms wrapped around. The girl that just me to have a very interesting night. So I did, and I rested my head and closed my eyes. Before I knew it I felt myself drifting off thinking about nothing at all.

* * *

"_No Squall like this." _

_I watched as Ellone retied her shoes for the millionth time. I looked down at my own with the strings still hanging loose. I stuck my tongue out as I attempted it again. I could get the first simple knot but after that it all went wrong. I made the bunny ears but just couldn't get them to go around each other. I let go of the strings to watch as the laces just fell clumsily back to the ground. _

"_Ma!" Ellone shouted over her shoulder. "Squall's dumb!"_

"_Am not!" I screamed in protest. _

"_Don't be mean dear," Raine, my mother, gently called from the kitchen. "Some people just take longer to tie their shoes don't ya know."_

"_He's seven!" Ellone exclaimed as if the thought was disgusting. "I learned when I was four!"_

"_Shut up!" I yelled. _

"_Squall!" Mom shouted stopping her cooking. "Watch your mouth now, ya hear?"_

_Ellone stuck her tongue out at me. Then she undid her laces, the tied them right back up. "See…now you try."_

_I tried to do it again and failed. "I can't do it." I huffed. This was just like everything in my life. I couldn't do math, I couldn't spell, I couldn't run fast, I couldn't play sports. I was just that awkward kid who couldn't make any friends because I wasn't good at anything and it totally sucked. Ellone had to come and save me when I was being picked on by a bully. How embarrassing is it when your sister saves you in a fight. Now I couldn't even tie my shoes, something my perfect sister could do three years earlier. _

_**Ring**_

_I saw mom pick up the corded phone from the wall right in the kitchen, which was also the only one in the house. She began talking to someone about something, I was too busy trying to tie my shoes again. _

"_Ma!" Ellone called again. "When Da coming home!?"_

"_I'm on the phone," Raine answered. _

"_Da's been gone for a while," I mumbled to no one in particular. _

"_He's always away," Ellone sighed. _

_Ellone watched intently as I slowly fumbled my hands with the laces. I had the two loops and was now trying to twist them around one another. I slipped one underneath like I remembered seeing and I smiled brightly as I pulled them tight. _

"_I did it!" I cheered. _

_Ellone smiled and opened her mouth to speak but a blood curdling scream echoed from the kitchen. Ellone and I jumped as we both looked to see a mother running from the kitchen as the back door was kicked in. A big man stepped in and smiled wickedly. _

"_Ellone grab Squall!" She screamed with such fear I'd never seen before. "Out the front door!"_

_Ellone grabbed my hand and yanked me too my feet. With one shoe tied the other just flew helplessly off. We reached the front door and opened it to see another man standing there. A devil of a grin smeared across his face. Raine reacted quick and reached above us slamming the door shut. She quickly bolted it and then grabbed both our hands. _

"_Upstairs children!" She urged the desperation tearing at her lungs. _

_She practically dragged us up them and when we reached the top she shoved me and Ellone in the bathroom. She knelt down and grabbed Ellone by the shoulders, "Protect your brother. I love you both more t'an anyt'ing in the world."_

_Before either of us could react she shut the door and I stood their frozen. Ellone managed to move, how I do not know. She locked the door and turned to me. She glanced around the room with tears starting to fall. I found myself starting to cry following in her example. She looked me in the eye and must've realized her responsibility and stopped her crying. _

_Even today I am still impressed by her actions, how she thought so clearly. She went over to the dirty towels basket and lifted off the top. She pulled out a ton and tossed them to the floor. _

"_Lovely home ya have here," A deep voice taunted from outside the door. He had an accent…Estharian?_

"_We don't have much, but you can have it all," Raine was trying hard to stay strong. "Just leave us alone."_

_Ellone grabbed me and tried to lift me into the basket. I didn't question and helped climb in since she couldn't fully lift me. _

"_Oh don't you worry," The man sneered, "We'll take those too."_

"_Squall, don't make a sound," Ellone begged. She threw some towels on me then put the top back on. She then threw more towels on top and at the base, making it look like just a messy pile that needs to be clean. _

"_Stay back!" I heard my mom scream the terror evident in her voice. _

_That's when the beating and screams started, the poundings thumped through the door. A muffled sound of outrageous pain was being inflicted. My mom couldn't hold her cries of pain inside and did shout out. I know she didn't want to for us, her children, because she wanted to make sure we wouldn't have to hear it, but even she couldn't stay silent with such force. I still don't know exactly what they hit her with, maybe just their fits. Whatever it was, it was brutal and ghastly. Her agonizing screams and pleads of stop were heard clearly through the door. _

_I pressed my hands to my ears trying to block it all out. I wanted to scream myself but Ellone told me to stay quiet. I peeked through the cracks in the wicker to see Ellone standing strong, facing the door. Her hands were at her sides in fists and tears streamed down her face, but she didn't look frightened. I'm sure she was, thus the tears, but she looked determined. _

_The beating stopped and there was silence outside. I didn't even want to think about what they just did to my mom. I watched as Ellone walked over to the window and opened it. There was a crash against the door as they attempted to break it down. The second crash flew the door open and banged against the wicker basket I was hidden in. A man stepped in and I watched Ellone in terror. _

_Her head was out the window not even looking at them. I wanted to scream and tell her to turn around. Didn't she know the guys were in the room?"_

"_Run Squall!" She shouted out of the window. "Run and don't stop!"_

_A man quickly ran and grabbed a fist full of her hair. She yelled in pain as the man shook her good. _

"_Just wait until me Da gets back!" She shouted at them. _

"_Oh your father," The man sneered. He then lifted her off her feet by her hair. She screamed in pain as he held her face up to his. "Your father was the dumb bloke who told us about this house in the first place. He flashed pictures of everything to us, random strangers. A dumbass for sure."_

"_Well he's coming back!" She yelled in his face, trying to sound strong but the terror evident. _

_The man chuckled, "No 'e ain't. We killed your father, just like your mother here." He turned to show Ellone our mother and her face went white. More tears streamed down her face and she couldn't get any words out. _

"_How many bullets did you put in him?" The man holding Ellone asked the other happily. _

"_Five," He answered proudly, "After we beat the shit out off him."_

_The man laughed setting her back on the ground only to drag her away by her hair. She screamed the whole way and as she passed the basket I was in our eyes connected. I heard the men say they were leaving and didn't care for the missing kid. _

_I didn't move for the longest time just scared that they would come back. After what felt like eternity I crawled slowly out of the basket. It tipped over and fell as I tried to get out. It landed in the open doorway and I froze. There was my mother laying in the doorway as a bloodied heap. _

"_Ma!" I cried new tears finding their way down as I crawled over to her. "Ma! Ma!" I shouted shaking her. I didn't care of all the blood and pressed my head against her. "Ma…you can't."_

"…_Squall." It was a weak barely audible whisper. _

"_Ma!" I whipped my tears away as I looked to see her eyes open. _

"_Run to the police," She told me groaning, in constant serious amounts of pain. _

"_I'm not leaving you Ma," I whined. _

"_Yes…go now," She looked me dead in the eye. Her crumbled arm lifted and attempted to push me. _

"_No!" I screamed and dove on her, "You're gonna be okay! I'm not leaving!"_

"_You hafta," She urged. "…leave me."_

"_No!"_

"_Squall!" She managed to shout but then a coughing fit of blood ensued. "I love you…" She was looking me right in the eye. "A mother's job is to protect her child. This is my job…now go, now."_

"_I-I can't…" I cried, "I'm scared."_

"_Be a big boy…please for me."_

_I slowly nodded my head, "…okay."_

"_That's a good 'un," She smiled, "I'm so proud of you."_

_She brought her hand up to my cheek and I grabbed it with both my hands. _

"_I love you, Squall." Her hand dropped from my face and even at that young age I knew she was gone. _

"_I love you too, Ma," The tears and snot ran into my mouth as I lost all control. I dropped my head on her as I let everything out in wailing cries. _

_I wanted to just collapse and cry but I remembered her last wishes. So that's what I did. I got up and ran. I ran out of the house and down the street. I ran across fields and through backyards. I ran with tears plastered against my face and my lungs ready to burst. But I fucking ran. _

_I made it too the closest police station and I threw the doors open. I didn't even have to say anything. A seven-year-old boy covered in blood gasping for air was enough to say what was needed to be said. People asked me what happened, they tried to soothe me, but I wasn't paying attention. All I could see was my mother's bloodied face staring into mine telling me she loved me for the last time.

* * *

_

My eyes shot open. I wiped a hand down my face as I let out a groan. I hated that fucking dream. It pestered me more than I would've liked. Hell I would never like to be bothered by it but I'm not naïve enough to think I'd get away with a _dramatic_ experience, as I believe it's classified. Fuck that, fuck anyone who thinks there is a way to come to terms with it. The only way to comes to term with that is to fucking take out scumbags so it won't happen to others. I don't want anyone else living through what I had too.

Damn it! I pounded my bed pissed off…only to realize I wasn't in my bed. I realized that because I didn't pound my bed, I pounded Rinoa next to me. She instantly shot up completely surprised and tense. It took her a moment to see me be the cause of her pain and then she laid back down but not much more relaxed.

"Something wrong?" She whispered.

"Sorry, I…had a bad dream."

She reached out and rubbed my arm gently which was still around her, "It's alright." I was strangely okay with her trying to comfort me. "Wanna talk about it?"

"…yes." Wait what!? No I don't.

She scooted closer leaning her head on my shoulder. "Okay."

"No wait, I don't want to," I looked away, "I don't know why I said that."

"Yes you do," She answered letting out a deep sigh. Obviously still tired. I felt kinda bad waking her up by basically hitting her.

"I'm sorry about hitting you, really."

"It's fine," her eyes closed and I could tell she was barely awake. "Now talk."

"I don't wanna talk about it I'm not seven," Fuck me for saying that age.

"Yes you do," She was so calm about it that it surprised me a little. "Otherwise you wouldn't have said yes, even by mistake."

"Can we just not," I said defeated.

"…fine," She flipped over onto her stomach and rested her head more on my chest. So her cheek rubbed against by bare chest and it was enough to send fluttery feelings. Her arm wrapped around across my chest as she settled herself. "But I'm here and I know you hate me saying that but it's true."

I did hate her for saying that but whatever made her feel better. Speaking of feel better. "How ya feeling?"

"Shitty." She mumbled.

I chuckled, "Not surprised."

She smiled into my chest, "I'm kinda use to it don't worry."

"You were pretty bad towards the end of last night, threw up a couple times. Can you remember?" My sneaky way of asking if she remembered what happened between us.

"Flashes," She mumbled drifting closer to the dream world. "You were really nice putting up with me though."

"My pleasure."

She shifted a bit and when she did, I noticed her freeze. She was feeling the jeans I was wearing with on hand. She lifted up the covers and looked down at my covered legs. She then looked at herself in her bra, skirt, and panties. Next she looked at me with her face scrunched in confusion.

"Umm did we not have sex last night?" She asked me blatantly.

"Um no not really."

"Really," She looked shocked, "I was drunk and didn't have sex…that's a first."

I chuckled, "Oh it is?"

She looked embarrassed, "Oh I didn't mean it like that."

"Don't worry," I paused, "Besides if it makes you feel better, I said we didn't not that we didn't try."

Her eyes narrowed, "Explain."

I outwardly laughed, "Do I have to?"

"Yes."

"Well we started but then you got sick so we stopped."

Her face looked horrified she collapsed it to my chest. "I'm so embarrassed."

"It's not problem." I smiled at her antics.

"I'm so sorry," She apologized.

"Nothing to say sorry for."

"I started having sex with you then stopped," She exclaimed, "That's something to say sorry for."

I scratched me head, she did have a point. Normally any other girl would get chewed out but the circumstances last night I couldn't really expect. Also I just found the entirety of the situation hilarious.

"Really it's fine."

She let out a sigh and no more words for said for a while. I wasn't too sure what to say or do, and maybe neither did she. I wouldn't call it awkward, 'cause it wasn't, but some words would've been nice.

She let out another sigh, "This is the time when you stroke my hair and tell me how beautiful I am."

I chuckled, "We didn't have sex so you don't get those benefits."

"Meanie." She tried to settle herself again, which inadvertently was just her trying to dig her head into my stomach. "You know you're like a fucking sculpture. You look great but you wouldn't sleep on one."

"Oh I know how great I look," I smirked, "You made sure to tell me in detail last night."

She let out a loud groan, "I hate alcohol."

"Oh really? You know based off last night I figured you loved it."

She slapped my chest, "Shut up meanie."

There was silence but only for a moment before Rinoa spoke again.

"Wanna talk about last night?"

"Not really."

She flipped her head over to look at me. "I think we should."

"Oh you do?" I snorted.

"Yes otherwise there will be sexual tension." I laughed and based off her glare it was the wrong response. "Seriously, there will be."

"No there won't." I reassured her.

She sat up and gave me a very serious stare. "Are you not attracted to me?"

"Christ," I rolled over on my side away from her. "We didn't even have sex!" I exclaimed. "You aren't allowed to ask annoying questions 'til after."

"You were being nice lately too," She said softly.

I let out a sigh. Honestly it was probably from the dream still. There was no reason to be this hostile; she was honestly just confused about the night. I for all she knows she thinks she took advantage of me and I dread this all. I'm the only one that realizes what feelings might be floating around the room right now. Actually…I don't know what feelings are floating around. But her attractiveness is definitely not in question. So there was no reason for me not to simply answer it, except the dream that just put me in such an awful mood already.

"My dream was about my family." I spoke sternly not really believing I was saying this. She didn't answer or move and I figured that meant I should continue speaking. "I won't bore you with details but men broke into my house and killed my mother and took my sister."

"What about your father?" She asked meekly.

"That bastard was the one who caused all this," I snarled. "Fucking dumbass told random strangers at a bus stop all about our house and the family. It was easy for them to find us and know what to expect."

"Well I'm sure he didn't mean too."

"It doesn't matter," I hissed. "If he kept his mouth shut it wouldn't have happened."

"Well what happened to him?"

"He was beaten and shot…he's dead."

"But he wasn't home, how do you know?" She was confused.

"…I had to confirm the body," I remembered being in that cold room staring at the mangled body. Some of his hair roughly pulled out and teeth missing. It was a gruesome sight, and a ridiculous notion they had a little kid identify the body. They had other people that knew him, why did I have to see it? Why did I have to get another imagine in my head?

I felt Rinoa lay down behind me, she draped an arm over me. "I'm sorry Squall it must've been terrible."

I grunted, "Did you do it? Then don't be sorry."

"Still…"She mumbled her lips into my back while gently stroking my arm.

Alright that's it, officially fuck this shit. I don't need her pity and I don't want her being all cuddly with me. Thinking a hug and kiss can solve this problem. Well it can't and I'm not going to lay in bed like some pussy getting a back rub to make me feel better. I've dealt with this shit on my own for years. I wasn't looking for comfort by telling her I was simply explaining my rash mood right now. A mood that is only getting significantly worse the more we stay like this.

I shoved her arm off me and slipped off the bed causing her to recoil worriedly.

"I'm gonna get some coffee," I told her and walked away without waiting for a response. I had no reason to be mad at her. I knew this was all me simply being pissed off so I would try and not take it out on her. That doesn't mean I'll be all peaches and fucking cream though.

I walked down the hallway and turned the corner heading into the living room. While I passed my door I contemplating going in but I knew that wouldn't help me better my mood. When I entered the living room I saw into the kitchen. Quistis and Seifer were already sitting at the table both enjoying their own morning ritual. Seifer black coffee and Quistis some frap-or-cap-achino or some sort. I don't know, we have this espresso fucking steamer thing that seems to make millions of drinks. Only Quistis has mastered that damn thing.

As I walk through the living room I grab my now button-less button-down shirt. I slipped it on all the same just to show I wasn't simply walking completely shirtless. Though this made me feel I was in some tropical place with it hanging open but I'd just deal. Quistis and Seifer both watched me with humorously filled eyes. I ignored them as I headed towards the counter. I grabbed a mug and poured some coffee from the simple maker me and Seifer use. Strong and black, the only way.

I sat down at the table and took a good swing of it. It burned my tongue and my throat as it spilled all the way down. It caused me to tighten my jaw as it did but I relished the feeling for some reason, I never knew why. I closed my eyes and let out a sigh knowing the question would come.

"Have fun last night?" Seifer's smug voice no doubt.

I grunted, "I didn't sleep with her."

"Sleep with who?" Seifer asked innocently.

"Whom dear," Quistis corrected.

Seifer waved it off, "Fuck proper language if it makes you sound more retarded than what the populous thinks."

"Never follow the populous," I commented. "The mind of a group is tainted, _always_."

He snorted, "We're getting off point."

"I did not sleep with her," I repeated strongly.

"So those clothes all over the floor?" Quistis asked taking a sip.

"Not you too Quistis," I groaned.

Quistis shrugged but smiled, "I'm curious too."

"So spill oh great commander," Seifer smirked, "Did you hit puberty?"

"I don't know ask Carol." I remarked smugly over the rim of my mug.

Seifer's face dropped into a scowl.

"Whose's Carol?" Quistis asked politely setting her cup down which was obviously meaning tell her fucking now before she kills Seifer.

"A girl Seifer liked back at the force who I managed to get and not him," I tipped my mug in victory.

"No matter," Seifer said, "Long ago, points is, you didn't walk out of your room this morning."

"You guys disgust me," Quistis sighed looking down at the table. Then her head perked back up and we both knew she had a question. "Back when you were roomies, did you ever have a threesome with just one girl."

Seifer gagged exaggeratedly on purpose, all the way to the point of banging on the table as if in pain. His commitment was what made the performance. "Eww babe, don't see things like that I almost puked."

"No," I sternly told her not liking that at all. "Why?"

Surprisingly I saw a faint blush creep across Quistis face. She grabbed her mug with both hands and brought it to her mouth only saying, "No reason."

"Seifer I believe your girlfriend finds me attractive," I told him vainly.

Seifer waved it off, "She didn't think that last night."

"Seifer!" Quistis exclaimed finding herself more embarrassed.

I laughed heartedly. See this is what I needed, not some girl rubbing me saying how I'd be okay. I'd never admit it but talking with Seifer always made me feel better. If only by taking my mind off of everything because of the amount of concentration it took to have a conversation with him. Not that it was overly intelligent, just one had to have their comebacks good and ready.

I heard the main door open then shut and Zell waltzed in. He threw his coat on the arm chair.

"Closet." Quistis sternly reminded him.

Zell scowled as he snatched it up and back tracked to the closest. He opened the door and carelessly tossed it. I heard Quistis mumbled something as she sipped her drink. Zell gave us a wide smile as he walked over. He opened the fridge and got some nice apple juice. He claims it keeps him in balance better with nature. I know his grandfather obviously told him that but I wonder how much he himself believes it. Either way he grabbed a glass and joined us at the table.

"Take her home already?" I asked.

"Yup," He nodded, "She had to be with her family today but thanks for letting her come and stay the night. It meant a lot to the both of us."

"Whatever gets you to stop being a pussy," Seifer jeered.

"Merry Christmas to you too," Zell snorted.

"She left pretty early though huh?" Seifer spoke to the table and I knew this was going nowhere good. "You sure you didn't do something wrong chicken-wuss."

Zell launched to his feet, "What are you insinuating?" No one said anything at the table as Seifer stared dumbly at Zell. Zell eventually grew tired of the silence of the stare from Seifer. "What!?"

Seifer slowly turned to Quistis, "He knows what insinuating means."

Quistis let out a little slip of a laugh out but quickly managed to contain it.

Zell was fuming, "Seifer you've been bugging me lately and I've about had it. You better watch yourself before I send you out that door."

"Like your girlfriend," Seifer remarked.

Zell banged his fist on the table, "That's it! How'd you like it if I make fun of your girlfriend."

Seifer grinned, "Go for it."

"Alright then, you think she's perfect huh? Well how about when she-"

Quistis cleared her throat, "I'm right here Zell."

Zell froze finger pointed deadly at Seifer. His eyes slowly slid to Quistis to see her watching him patiently. He unfroze but only to slowly slump back into his chair completely embarrassed.

Seifer's pleasure was evident, "Aw babe couldn't you have let him say what he wanted to say."

Quistis was trying to remain neutral but everyone could see her keeping the smile down. It was no secret that Seifer made her laugh and feel great. It's why they surprisingly got along. However it was usually at the expense of someone else and that someone was almost always Zell. Even I was finding the mug at my lips longer than normal to keep the smile hidden.

"Squall why don't you do something," Quistis turned to me.

My eyebrows went up, "I'm sorry?"

"Yeah Squall," Zell perked up.

I sighed, "Seifer do you feel proud and accomplished winning mind games against _Zell_?"

Zell, once again, spoke before words could process in his mind. "Yeah Seifer do you-wait…wait a second, Squall!"

Seifer erupted in laughter along with Quistis and me. There was no way we could all contain it. Even Zell after a while joined in, laughter was contagious and even he knew we didn't mean anything serious against him. So we sat there, laughing like merry little kids on Christmas morning. After we all settled down we continued to have _normal_ conversation. Something that was still quite foreign to us, since we almost were always discussing or arguing about something. But today I think everyone felt the same as me, and that was too simply enjoy the day and not worry about all the shit we'd eventually have to deal with.

Selphie sprang out of her door practically bouncing. She wore the cliché yellow ducky pajamas that matched top and bottom. She wore the pants low and comfortable and her shirt never reached them showing off her stomach slightly. She rushed up to the table and gave each one of us a good stare in the face.

"Where's Rinny!?" She shouted.

Known fact: Selphie doesn't need coffee since her body produces caffeine.

"Her room," I replied obviously.

Her eyes lit up and her mouth formed such a spectacular smile as one word slowly sputtered out of her mouth. "Presents."

She then dashed off through the living room and down the hallway no doubt heading for Rinoa's room. Us, the table people, stared in her direction never truly knowing how we got such a character in our group.

"Mornin'," Irvine called as he walked up to the table. He had some sweatpants and a simple white T-shirt on. He sat down at the table and fixed his hat. It made me wonder if he slept with it on or maybe he had like a perfect stand he rested on besides his bed. Either way it was on from morning till night. I bet I'd find it weird if it wasn't on him at some point.

"She's like a kid," Seifer snorted.

"She is a kid," Irvine calmly replied.

"Wait she's nineteen right?" Zell proposed. "Does that make her an adult or teenager?"

"Well eighteen's an adult," Quistis answered.

"But the number nineteen has the word _teen_ in it so…" Zell replied.

"So does thirteen," Squall countered. "I wouldn't call a thirteen-year-old a teenager."

"So…adult?" Irvine asked the table.

"Technically yes," Seifer agreed, "Selphie no."

"You guys talking about me?" Selphie jumped over the counter and landed near the table looking around excitedly.

"I'd call her more twelve," Seifer addressed the table.

"Where's Rinoa," Quistis asked the brunette.

"Getting some clothes on, 'cause, ya know…" Selphie's eyes dragged slowly to me.

Everyone's eyes turned to me and I stared blankly at them. This continued for some time, to the point where Rinoa entered the living room and stared at us all.

"Umm guys…presents," She held up a couple bags shaking them, but no one looked. It was a miracle for sure.

"Fuck. Everyone." I stated standing up.

They all shared a grin as they followed after me to the living room. I sat in my armchair which only a couple hours ago began the strange night that lead to this morning. Seifer sat on the couch closest to me, Quistis sat next over, in the middle, and Zell on the far side. Irvine was in the armchair across from me adjacent to Zell. Selphie took a spot on the floor next to Rinoa who was currently situating the bags all around her.

"Sorry guys I didn't wrap them," She meekly told us.

"That's fine," Quistis answered fixing her classes making me wonder if she did the 'glasses fix' simply to look more like a mother.

"Well who wants to go first?" Rinoa asked happily

Everyone eyed each other until they all fell on Selphie who was practically bouncing inside herself.

"Just let her go before she explodes," Seifer said.

"Okay Selphie," Rinoa reached into a bag and Selphie outstretched her arms excited. "Now I don't know if you're gonna like it but I didn't want to just get some simple clothes or perfume or something."

"I'm sure I'll love it." Wow, she did have manners.

Rinoa pulled out a big box that had a big picture of a rocket on it. Selphie practically snatched it out of Rinoa's hand and smashed her face against the box reading the side texts.

"It's a model rocket kit and I know it's kinda kidish but I figured you could make good use, maybe come up with some new ideas, or use some pieces, I don't know. But I also got you this specialized tool kit just for these model rockets," She explained handing over another box, "and I figured you might be able to use it for whatever else you feel like building."

Selphie screeched in delight before diving on Rinoa. "I love it!" She jumped up and started running off.

"Selphie dear!" Irvine called, "Wait until everyone's done."

Selphie slouched down but obliged and sat back on the floor. She's not twelve she's fucking ten.

"Whose's next?"

"Oh me, me!" Zell exclaimed.

"Okay Zell, for you I got this," She pulled medium size box. "It's a sharpener of all your weapons, it says all purpose so I assume it's for everything, but then again all the shit you have I don't know if it will cover it all. You'll have to see."

"Thanks Rin," He smiled gently as he retrieved the item from her.

"That's not all," Rinoa told him happily, "I also got you these," Once again…another box. "It's pair of night vision goggles. I figured maybe on some missions you can have total advantage with night vision goggles."

"That's amazing!" Zell cried snatching them from Rinoa already opening the box.

Seifer eyed me leaning on his fist, I knew he was thinking the same thing I was. Why the fuck didn't we think of night vision goggles? Where do you even buy night vision goggles?

"Okay, Quistis your next," Rinoa reached into another bag. She pulled out a big box and it had a computer image on the side."It's the –

"HP/Hewlett-Packard TouchSmart!" Quistis cheered uncharacteristically leaning forward with such eager she almost fell off the couch.

"Oh God," Seifer whined, "You have three already."

"Not like this," She rebuked. "This is all touch screen and can be an immense help. I was going to ask Squall if I could get this soon but now I don't have to." Quistis stood up and knelt on the floor hugging Rinoa tightly in what only can be classified as a 'Selphie hug'. "Thank you so much."

"You're welcome," Rinoa smiled.

Quistis sat back down on the couch with new present in hand smiling like a giddy school girl.

"Irvine?" Rinoa asked.

"Sure hun," He sat forward, "Let's see what ya got."

"First I got you this," She pulled out a box with some black thing on the side but we couldn't make it out. "It's a really nice back massager but it has multiple parts and there is this travel one, where you can like lay on it is padded and it warms. So I figured if you ever had to lay on for a long period of time or sit for a long period of time on a job you could bring this and you won't get sore."

Irvine smiled brightly obviously happy with the idea, "How sweet."

"And," Rinoa reached into another bag. "I got you this," She held a couple small containers. "It's hat polisher's specifically western style."

Irvine fell to his knees and removed his hat bring it to his chest. "Marry me."

Rinoa burst into a fit of giggles and handed over the gifts as Selphie glared at her boyfriend.

"Now Seifer," She turned to the blonde, "I wasn't sure what to get you."

"Strip tease."

Quistis elbowed him a second after, her reaction time is greatly improving.

"uh yeah, no," She pulled out a big long dark trench coat. Well actually it turned out to be not quite black more of a dark silver trench coat. "I figured since you are always wearing that gray one and it's kinda dingy I'd get you this nice sweet silver one. Now I know you may be sentimental about your old one so don't feel like you have to wear this."

Seifer smirked, "Oh this will make me even more attractive."

"Did you have to Rin," Zell complained wearing the night vision goggles with his spiky hair sticking out looking ridiculous.

"And finally Squall," She turned to me and smiled, "Well, I really had no idea what to get you at all, not like you show enough emotion for anyone to know what you like."

I grumbled not really saying anything in response.

"So I got you two things," First she pulled out this coat. It was black and looked heavy with a fur lined collar. "I figured this was your color since you're all moody."

"You don't have to explain every gift," I retorted.

"Oh but that's the fun part," She laughed, "Since you're always cursing about how cold it is I figured a nice coat that wasn't some trench coat. This is in style and would suite you nicely."

"She's right," Selphie's eyes darted between me and the coat and I knew she was putting it on me in her mind. It worried me what else she could probably imagine.

"And secondly," Rinoa pulled out a small piece of white square paper. However when she turned it around I realized it was a picture. "I got you a picture of myself so you can carry in your wallet since I know how much you love me."

She smiled brightly and of course the entire room burst out laughing. I found a smile tugging at my own lips but I tried to keep it down. I reached out and took the coat and picture with a nod. The picture was of her smiling peacefully, it was actually nice. It wasn't some obnoxious toothy grin or her making a dumb kissy type face. It almost made me smile, _almost_. I knew that I would keep it in my wallet and if anyone asked it would be because it was a Christmas present and to not do as she asked would be rude.

"So I hope you guys like them," Rinoa smiled meekly.

"We love them Rinoa," Quistis answered for the group.

"And…" Seifer turned to me knowingly.

I smiled, "We got you something."

She perked up like a dog hearing the word 'car'. "Oh really?"

Seifer leaned forward and reached underneath the couch. He pulled out a somewhat thin medium sized wooden rectangular box. We hid it under there so we could just pull it out looking all nonchalant and shit. 'Cause that's how we act here, also whoever looks under a couch they sit on all day. There was no way of knowing if she'd ever burst into some room.

Seifer reached out holding it and Rinoa crawled over on her knees to get it. She sat back on her butt crossing her legs, resting the box on it. She ran her hand over the wood and looked up at all of us.

"What is it?"

"Gotta open it," Irvine replied.

She smiled and unhooked the top from the bottom, she lifted the top back and let out a gasp. A gasp that a normal girl would make when they see jewelry or pearls. However this was no such fanciful thing. In this box there were two handguns. They were a metallic silver with the handles a pure white ivory with golden screws. There were two Jolly Rodger symbols (skull and cross bones) on each side of the barrel. They were top of the line and not just pretty looking. They were as strong as any Desert Eagle and handled just as nice.

She lifted it slowly out of the case and readjusted her hand in the grip. She smiled, "I love it."

"Knew you would," Selphie smirked.

"But why do I get special guns?" She asked a frown soon forming. "I don't wanna be the only one."

"We all have our own custom weapons," Irvine answered.

"Can I see them?" She shook her head as soon as she said it. "Oh there all in the basement, nevermind."

"Don't think Heartily," Seifer replied pulling out a handgun from behind him. "You might hurt yourself."

"Why do you have a gun you!?" Quistis exclaimed.

"Why not?" He replied smugly itching his eyebrow with it.

"Rinoa we all have our own guns," I told her, "We use them for special cases where we don't think we'll lose them because most are one of a kind."

"So can I see them?" She asked.

I quirked an eyebrow, "What? You don't wanna test your gun out."

Her eyes lit up and she jumped to her feet with both guns in hand. "Hell yeah!"

She dashed off to the elevator and I sauntered after her. I glanced over my shoulder as no one else decided to come and I cursed knowing they were trying to give us alone time. God I hate people who think they can try and help two people when there isn't anything going on between them. If they kept this attitude up I'm moving.

I reached the elevator and it was already going down. I cursed again and waited for it to come back up. When it did I stepped in and rode down. I entered the shooting range and saw the weapons room door open. Before I could enter Rinoa hurriedly walked out with a box of ammo and ear covers. I stepped in and grabbed a second pair of ear covers off the wall and grabbed a random gun. I was just gonna do some shooting so I didn't stand awkwardly behind her.

I watched her load the gun and the smile that graced her face as she did. She slid the chamber back with the loud clanking thud. She took aim gently and then unloaded the entire magazine. She was smiling the whole time and I knew she never felt that power before. We always gave her a weaker gun waiting for her aim to get a little better and it showed here. I could see that not every bullet hit the paper target at the other end, which she could normally do with another gun. This one had more recoil and she'd have to get use to it, but it was way more powerful. We didn't say anything and just kept shooting in peace, a strange thought that can prod the mind for an eternity. When suddenly she stopped shooting and placed her gun down. She took the ear covers off and let them fall around her neck. I stopped shooting and did the same looking at her expectantly.

"Wanna talk about last night?" She purposed looking down at her shiny new toy.

"Not really," I huffed.

"We should," She pressed.

"No we shouldn't," I argued.

She swiftly turned to me her hair swinging softy over her shoulder. Why I noticed that, I don't know. "This has happened to me before and I know what will happen if we don't talk about it."

"Oh yeah," I snorted, "Enlighten me."

"There is going to be sexual tension between us."

"Sexual tension?" I repeated. She nodded. I chuckled, "No there won't be."

"Let your masculinity down for a second and admit there will." She replied harshly.

"There won't be," I sternly said.

She put her hand on her hip leaning with attitude. "Even if you don't admit it there is. Every time I walk into a room you will think of me back to that time, you will think about how close you almost got with me. Every time you see me you will think about how I look in what I'm wearing and what I'd look like without it. You'd suddenly find yourself being more interested in me, whether you want to or not. You will realize this and fight it by yelling and making fun of me, or you'll embrace it and attempt to repeat what happened the previous night leaving awkward ties between us."

I snorted, "Umm nothing happened said previous night." I reminded.

She clicked her tongue, "You may not agree now but you will."

"Oh, fine and how do you know all this."

"Because it's how I am going to feel about you," Rinoa answered seriously looking me straight in the eye. "I won't be able to stop thinking about you and every time I see you I won't be able to not think of you without clothes on. So we need to talk about this to prevent any of this from happening."

"That's absurd," I hissed, "Don't act like you know me." I turned and headed towards the elevator. "Put everything away!" I shouted over my shoulder.

What the fuck did she know? Sexual tension my ass. I don't fall for a woman simply because I _almost_ had sex with her. That's ridiculous, I can understand having sex and it accidentally happening. But to not even have sex and then have her puke all over the place causing her to become the very definition of unattractive. No, definitely no sexual attraction. That is an absurd notion of such simplicity and spontaneous feelings towards one another. Just no.

But would I really get that mad at her if I thought that? Did I get mad because even I knew that there was a slight chance that could be the exact outcome but refuse to believe it because as she said, my masculinity would suffer? Either way, I was determined to not act any different towards her. I wouldn't baby her and I wouldn't punish her. It would be like nothing happened, because it was just a lot of alcohol and didn't mean anything.

And yet if it meant nothing, I doubt I'd be arguing this long with myself.

* * *

So there's that just gotta say Merry Christmas and also gotta mention my beta again simply cause he edited this whole chapter in one day on Christmas-eve till Christmas...good man, good man.


	15. Frost

**Jesus, it's been quite a while hasn't it…well due to all that time where absolutely nothing happened I came to a revelation. To stop fucking about and get on with this story. I originally had like another three chapters of what could be called "character development" but in essence time wasters…why I was gonna have them, I have no idea? But that's the point isn't it, there is no reason to have them. So therefore, I scrapped them and their uselessness to officially begin to start into what will be a string of events that goes all the way to the end of the story. **

**Now, saying that…it will take a couple chapters to really, really get going. This should come to you as no surprise since I am the guy that takes a good 100,000 words as the introduction. Still, if things go to plan you will soon see what I'm talking about.

* * *

**

**January 15**

**Squall's POV**

"So when he asked why I punched the other kid, guess what I told him…no, alright, well I told him, 'people say life's like a bully and all you can do is fight back.' So that's what I did, I punched that bully right in the face, and man, boy did it feel great. Nothing like seeing your enemy just fall to the ground crying about his nose. Seriously if you ever get the chance to punch someone you hate…take it."

"What the fuck are you talking about!?"

I chuckled, "Man I'm just telling you a story because that's what friends do and I feel we have become friends."

"Why would I be your friend?"

"That's a little harsh don't you think." I replied swinging my legs idly as I did.

"We just met."

Damn it's cold. I pulled my cloak hood down over my face more trying to block all the wind I could. "Doesn't take long to become friends. Hell I wouldn't introduce you to my mother but I'd take you out for a drink. Know what I mean?"

"No I don't, and I said no police." The middle aged man said.

I spread my arms wide, "Do I look like the police."

"No,you just look insane." He accused.

I shrugged, "That may be true but I'm not the one trying to jump off this building."

I leaned forward over the edge we were both sitting on, and looked down the fifteen stories. There was a crowd of people now and a good amount of cop cars. They were keeping the people back, as they stared up at us. There was even a news van or two. The police were 'dealing' with this but I got bored and stepped in. The man swore he'd jump if anyone came onto the roof…well I'm sitting next to him and he still hasn't jumped.

"What do you want with me?" the man asked.

I tipped my head thinking. "I don't know...what ya got? A nice stereo? Can I have that?"

"You're insane."

I chuckled and slapped him on the back. He edged forward and gripped the stone tightly with his hands. "Oh watch yourself…well I guess you don't have too."

"Are you trying to kill me!?" The man shouted.

I looked towards the sky exaggeratedly thinking. "I don't know. Let's see, you said if anyone came onto the roof you'd jump. So, yes there I suppose I did try and kill you. Then you said if I walked near you, you'd jump, so yes I did there too. I just made a small attempt to push you off myself." I looked at him and smiled. "Hey maybe I am trying to kill you."

"Just as long as you aren't trying to save me," The man looked over the edge. "Don't think I won't do it. I will."

"Alright, go for it." I said nonchalantly as I pulled out my box of Newports. I popped one in my mouth and withdrew a lighter. I froze and looked at the man next to me. "Care if I smoke?"

"Why would I care?"

"You know, second hand smoke…ahh right, never mind." I lit it and took a deep drag.

"Actually…can I have one?"

I smirked, "Sure why not." I handed him one. He stuck it in his mouth and leaned over to me. I lit it for him and watched as I took a deep drag.

"You ever smoke before?"

"College."

I nodded. "That's when people start."

"I stopped after a while though," He laughed softly while shaking his head. "Man I won't lie," He tipped the cigarette at me. "I missed it."

I chuckled, "Thus why I never quit."

"Well you should quit," The man told me oh so wisely.

"What are you, my fucking girlfriend," I joked.

He laughed, "I guess I deserve that."

I took another drag before I took it out of my mouth. I nudged his shoulder with my hand that held my smoke. "Listen to this, my girlfriend wanted me to quit smoking for Christmas. What the fuck does she think this is? Only nonsmokers don't understand why someone would smoke."

"I know, I know." The man agreed.

"Women are just so…so…"

"Frustrating." He finished for me.

I looked at him pausing. "Couldn't have said it better than myself."

"Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em." He quoted the old time saying.

"Fucking sucks donkey balls," I quoted the new saying. I laughed and he joined in. "I mean, we obviously need them, but they drive us so fucking crazy."

"You're telling me," He spat, "My wife just divorced me."

"Fuck man," I gave him a squeeze on the shoulder. "If you had a tomorrow, I'd say let's go to the strip club."

He shook his head, "I still love her, that's the problem."

"Hmm."I nodded slowly. "I hate that. This girl left me one time, and I didn't want her to."

"So what you do?" He asked.

"I chased after her," I answered spitting my cigarette butt out and watching it take the long tumble to the ground. "You know, like all those romantic movies."

"How'd it end up?"

"She was fucking my best friend," I looked at him seriously before cracking a smile. "She was a slut though I shouldn't be surprised."

The man threw his cigarette outwards and watched its little glow cascade down to the ground. He looked at me and I gave him another one. "Watch it," I warned, "Those things will kill."

We both cracked up laughing as I lit his smoke. He took another drag and then a sigh. "You know…that's what happened to me I found out. After my wife divorced me, she took all my shit, my house, my TV, my kids…hell my fucking dog." He looked at me angrily. "It's not even her dog, she hated that dog."

"I'm sure the dog's pissed too."

He shrugged, "He has the kids, so he'll be fine." He pointed the cigarette at me while he talked, "But you know, after all that, she ran away to the country with my friend. I mean, I don't think she was cheating on me, but hell, a week after the divorce run away with my friend. Obviously something was up."

"That…that bitch," I hissed taking his side. I quickly turned to him, "oh shit sorry, I know you still like her."

"Ah don't worry about it," He brushed me off. "She is, I know that, I just can't stop liking her."

"Not supposed to," I commented, "You married her, that meant you'd love her forever. She was the one in the wrong."

He nodded seriously taking another drag. "You're absolutely right."

"The worst part," I leaned on my knees watching as the police were in a circle talking about something. Probably how to sneak onto the building and take us down. Everything was normal protocol until a man dressed in a black cloak – a.k.a. me – showed up. "I bet you feel everyone is judging you now. I'm sure in your office and shit, people can't stop talking in their fucking cubicles."

He nodded, "I can't stand it, they act as though it's my fault."

How'd I know he worked in an office? He had a suite on with a briefcase behind him leaning against the small wall that was the edge of the building. I could only assume he came from someplace like that, if I was wrong, no big deal.

"Man, people just gotta stick to their own lives, ya know?"

"Fucking right."

"Life fucking sucks."

"Understatement," he grumbled.

"Maybe I'll join you jumping off," I told him looking down again.

He chuckled a bit, "…look…you've been great and all but don't think I'm not gonna jump."

I held up my hands defensively, "Do a fucking swan dive for all I care."

The man thought for a moment, taking a couple drags of his cigarette as he did. "You're a part of the Saints, aren't you?"

I snorted, "Are you crazy…I'm the leader."

He coughed on the intake of smoke hearing that. He snapped his head to me and I gave him a rare wide grin. "You're the leader," He stated pointing at me dumbly. I nodded and he turned back. He tipped his head back to the sky and let out a loud laugh. "Holy shit, I'm sitting next to the most wanted good hearted man in the city."

I laughed, "A very nice description."

"But I see your face…"

I chuckled and nodded my head at the ground. "Won't matter soon, will it?"

He laughed again. "Man, here I sit thinking you were gonna try and talk me out of it."

I shrugged, "Do you want me too?"

He looked at me quizzically. "Well you couldn't with me knowing what you were trying."

I shrugged again, "I could."

"They say you are a genius. To evade the cops this long…what's your secret."

I smiled, "I'm not a genius…everyone else is simply stupid."

"Hmm vanity is a sin."

"So is killing people," I retorted, "…makes you wonder what the hell I'm doing."

He laughed, "You are the very definition of contradiction."

"And conundrum."

"So what _are_ you doing here?"

I spat my cigarette out again and grabbed another one. Hey it's been a couple days even if Rinoa's gonna give me hell later. God knows she's watching the TV right now and they are probably zoomed in on me puffing the shit out of my lungs.

I explained as I lit my next cigarette. "I know a couple people that committed suicide. I always wondered their final thoughts of life. I always thought…maybe if they had one last good friend to talk to, then they could die happy. No one wants to die sad, but to die with a smile on a face is all one can ask for. So that's why I'm here," I looked at him seriously, "I wanted to let you have one last good conversation before you took the dive."

I could see him weighing it in his head. "So you really aren't here to stop me? You just want me to die…happy?"

I nodded, "I mean if you're going anyways, I don't want you to hate everyone. I want you to know there are some good people in the world. Otherwise I wouldn't do what I do."

"So just a conversation?"

I nodded, "A conversation is a powerful thing. When was the last time you just had a real good pointless talk with someone."

He shrugged, "Don't know."

I pointed my cig at him, "See, so I just wanted you to have one last simple good conversation."

"I see…can I have another one." He asked.

I laughed and withdrew the pack. I set it down between us on the ledge, "Take as many as you want."

He did and then asked me a question, "They say if you commit suicide you automatically go to hell…is that true?"

I smiled at him, "You act as though I've spoken with God."

He frowned, "I just thought-"

"But," I cut him off, "I can't believe that. All the people who commit suicide go to hell…that seems a little harsh. People have murdered other people and go to heaven. So I'm sure if you kill yourself for dumb reason like not being 'cool' in high school, then you will. But if the love of your life dies, or in this case leaves you basically robbing you blind, then I can't see why you have to be punished even more."

"I never thought about it like that."

"People say it's the coward's way out, thus implying being cowardly is being scared. Usually you are called a coward when something is too hard or tough to do." I told him, "But as I'm sure you are realizing now, what's easy about killing yourself. Fucking hard ass shit, ain't it?"

The man laughed, "Yeah I wouldn't say it's easy."

"Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying you should do it," I twisted my cigarette hand as I talked. "But I can understand why you would do it, God knows I've thought about it."

"So…you really aren't trying to stop me?" He asked again.

I smirked, "I pause, turn towards you, and ask again…do you want me to?"

He shrugged this time. "I don't wanna be this guy who couldn't even follow through with it."

I looked at him a good long while. "Yes you do."

He arched an eyebrow which was followed by a stream of smoke rising to the air.

I smirked, "What I say next does not mean you have to do anything to prove me wrong."

"…okay."

"You came up onto this building because you wanted people to see you die." I explained motioning to them below. "Which means a couple things. One: you want your wife to see and feel bad. Two: you want people to see and question why things like this happen," I leaned closer to him, "that's usually what an evil psychopath does." He nodded understandingly. "Or three: you wanted people to see you so someone would stop you from jumping."

His head whipped at me but I held up my hand to stop him. "I'm not saying you might not jump, but there's other ways to kill yourself. This way, everyone sees it and there is a chance you will be stopped. If you are in your house…well you don't have one anymore…but if you were, no one would stop you."

He opened his mouth but I held up my hand again. "Now don't go thinking you have to kill yourself to prove me wrong, remember I'm not gonna judge you and I'm sure as hell not going to tell anyone. You can jump, I won't stop you…or you cannot jump, and walk away."

"I'm not walking away," he told me sternly.

"Excellent!" I cheered startling him.

"Why is that excellent?"

"Well I've also always wanted to see someone jump from above," I explained looking down. "This will be my first time as well as yours."

He chuckled, "You are crazy."

I smirked, "That's what they tell me."

"Hey maybe you could push me," He suggested. "You know to make sure I do it."

"I got one better," I whipped out my handgun and pointed it at his head. "I could shoot you." He raised his arms in defense. "Put your hands down, you're gonna die anyways."

He shrugged putting them down, "good point."

"Ha, look at them down there," He followed my eyes to all the police running about. "I suddenly just became an attempted murderer."

The man laughed, "Can they arrest you for euthanasia…is this euthanasia?"

I paused and narrowed my eyes thinking. "I think…yes, I believe I am _assisting_ in your suicide."

"Hell," The man snorted, "You're just helping me."

I tapped the gun around my nose. "You know, I never believed euthanasia is wrong. Well I shouldn't say that…I guess it goes along with abortions. They are always wrong, but what happens if a woman was raped and the kid will be raised completely wrong. I mean there's adoption…but that isn't as easy as it sounds. Then again my good friend was almost aborted and I'm happy she wasn't."

"You talk a lot," The man noted.

I smiled, "You know what, I _guarantee_ you are the only person _ever_ to say that."

"Really?" The man shrugged, "Oh well," He tossed the bud out into the open gap of air. "Well I suppose getting shot is better than jumping."

I nodded, "Yeah I always told myself that I'd rather be shot than jump," I tapped his shoulder, "Ya know, for the kids and all." My sarcasm was evident.

He sulked down instantly. "I do feel bad for my kids. I don't want them thinking I was a coward."

"How old are they?"

"Seventeen-year-old daughter and a thirteen-year-old son."

"Bet that daughter gives you hell." I joked.

He laughed, "Like the fires themselves are burning me."

"How'd she – your wife that is – get everything?" I suddenly asked. "I mean…what was the technicality that she got you on."

"I kissed someone in the office," He looked at me seriously, "I swear she came onto me. I told my friend and only him, and now I understand how my wife found out. So it was like I was a bad husband and father."

"Fuck that," I scowled, "The system acts like it can judge people, only an individual can judge an individual if they know them for a while."

"I'm with you there." The man nodded.

"Well did you at least finish your bucket list?" I inquired.

"That lists of things I want to do before I die?" He asked and I nodded. He shook his head, "No, I haven't done shit. I didn't even have anything that complicated. One was just fishing," He pretended to cast, "Just all day in Fisherman's Horizon. Just by myself, no talking, no nothing, and I'd sit literally from sun rise to sun set."

I pointed my new lit cigarette at him. "I agree with that, I like the simple things. See I'm actually from Balamb and I moved here a couple years ago. Before I die, I just want to sit on a tall grassy hill, and look over the sea of green. Feel the gentle, slightly chilled breeze brush through my hair. That's it…I'd be happy with that."

"That would be real beautiful to see," The man hung his head sadly. "I've only left the country once and it was a college trip. We went to Centra and saw all the old buildings and such."

"Nice place down there," I commented.

"Yeah," He agreed, "But I haven't been anywhere since then. I wish I did more, I wish I just fucked all the bad shit in my life and just enjoyed it."

I nodded, "Just live day to day having a blast. That is what life should be."

"Yeah…how come it isn't?" He asked me solemnly.

I smirked with the cigarette at the corner of my mouth. "It could be… it could be..." With that I stood up on the ledge. I looked down at him. "I will ask you one last time, and for the _first_ time being absolutely serious." He looked at me like a scared little child. I spread my arms wide, one over the edge and one to the roof. "You can jump." I dipped the one over the edge with my gun still in hand. "You can end your life, you can curse your wife's name for ruining your life you never actually lived or…" I dipped my arm over the roof. "You can walk away…you can take this whole ordeal as a lesson and truly live your life."

"But…I just…"

I crouched down on the ledge and looked him squarely in the eye. "You could fish _every-fucking-day…_imagine that. Just think about it, picture sitting on a dock fishing, with no worries."

And honest to God, a tear fell from his eye. The pressure of the decision must've been building immensely in his mind. "Whatever worries you have, you can fix, you'll see your kids again, and your dog. Fuck I'll steal your dog for you. Either way…jump, end it all, or give it one last chance." I smirked and shrugged, "If it doesn't work out just find another building. You _literally_ have nothing…_nothing_ to lose."

He sat there and thought…just thought for the longest time. I could see his mind tearing itself apart in his head, battling and wrestling with all the words I just said. Then suddenly he jumped to his feet and I grabbed his arm to help steady him, last thing I wanted was for him to accidentally fall.

"You're right!" He exclaimed. "There is no point to my life, so why not just live it up. Worst comes to worst, I'll just ax myself off after I try."

I laughed, it was a start, "That's the spirit, just kill yourself later."

Then we both laughed for a good long while. Then he looked at me and smiled brightly. He hopped off the ledge and I swear there was a roaring cheer that came from below. Being the jackass I was, I did two bows to them before hopping off the ledge myself. The man couldn't stop smiling. He stuck out his hand strongly and I took it just as strongly.

"Thank you," He told me, "I didn't believe you'd be able to talk me out but you did, and I stand here – not dead – because of you. What can I do to repay you?"

I smiled softly…lots of smiles today, I'm done for the week. I put my handgun back into my cloak and pulled out a big wad of gil. I handed it over to him. "Live your life like you always dreamed. Money doesn't fix everything, but it does sure help a fucking lot."

His smile got even bigger. He took the money and stared at it. He stuffed it into his pocket and looked at me one last time. "I would ask your name but it would be better if I didn't know, I assume. Don't worry I won't tell anyone anything about you. You were just some random smartass who wanted to be a hero."

"Guilty."

"My names Jack." He told me. "And I will always, always remember you."

"Great," I grinned, "Now do me a favor?"

"Anything."

"Walk back over to that ledge," I nodded at it. "Just stand there for a second, everyone will be focused on you again while I escape."

"Can do."

I shook his hand one last time and turned around. I never looked back at him but simply disappeared through the roof door and descended down the steps. Six floors down and I was now on the floor I needed. I met up with Seifer and we headed into a room. There was a ladder stretched out one window to another window in the building behind the current one. We quickly scaled across it and were on our way home. Only seven words were said that entire trip home.

"Went well I assume?"

"People are stupid."

* * *

**Rinoa's POV**

"Really?" Selphie's head was held up on the table by her hands, which were propped up by her elbows. "That's amazing you pushed the conversation like that."

We were all sitting at the kitchen table and Squall just explained everything that happened. Everyone was impressed for sure, but for me impressed was not the right word. I was flabbergasted, astounded, amazed, in pure awe beyond measurement. The way he was able to twist every little bit of the conversation always in control. He always knew exactly what he was saying with good knowledge of where it would lead. His ability to think that quickly and slyly to convince the other person to not ax themselves. People were trained for years in school to do what Squall does on his own. It just added on to his impressiveness in every way.

To start smoking – as much as I hate – was able to get a normal conversation going. Squall mentioned his girlfriend, which I like to believe was me in this case. He said how she annoyed him, to get Jack to talk about his feelings on women. Seeing if he would hate them currently or not, made it easy to go straight into talking about how he just got divorced. Then mentioning the strip club, he learned if he still liked his girl or not based on his agreement or disagreement. Even if a joke, he knew his response would be the truth. He learned from that, that Jack was still very much in love with his ex.

Then Squall talked about his other girl, which I don't believe ever existed…I think. By talking about her, he related to the possible jumper. He made sure to always keep a bond between them. He let the man complain about her to him. That way he could learn more about Jack and let him voice more of his anger. Squall took his side instantly knowing it would help. He kept bringing it back to cigarettes to make sure he wasn't pushing too hard. Never diving in for answers, but simply planting the idea in Jack's head so he'd talk about them himself.

Squall then took a guess about the office he worked in, which I normally would think is risky, but somehow Squall just knows this shit enough for it not to be a risk. Of course he was right, since the jackass always is. He made sure to blame the coworkers as well to make sure that Jack always felt wronged and in the right. He put them down so Jack would agree with him but he didn't press him. When Jack said again he would jump, Squall almost encouraged it.

I don't know if that's reverse psychology or what, but it worked. He made it seem like he wasn't just trying to save him. He said he just wanted a conversation and that's what it seemed like to Jack. He just was having a talk and an honest one. When Jack asked if he'd go to hell Squall didn't try and scare him from jumping. There was a risk Jack would realize that and jump before Squall could keep going or try and stop him. It was important that Jack would never think he had a timed limit. If that was the case, he'd jump to make sure he could before someone stopped him.

Squall did explain the one time true thoughts were behind it at one point. Jack even got a little defensive it sounded but Squall handled it nicely. He did it in a friendly way that wasn't too pressuring. When Jack firmly stated he wasn't _walking away_ Squall seemed over eager like he honestly didn't care. It wasn't what Jack expected nor probably what he wanted to hear. There was obvious and reasonable skepticism on his part so Squall had to help push him a little.

So to enforce that, Squall pulled his gun out, which as he explained when he got back, wasn't loaded. The balls Squall has sometimes, to just come up with random ideas that have no backing behind them. When he started sounding like he was really ready to die Squall mentioned the kids. It was a little obvious but it worked. Jack felt bad about it and instead of Squall pushing him towards them, he did the opposite. He helped convince him they'd be fine without him. Then he quickly pushed it back to his wife to see how she got everything. Once discovering that, he delayed the suicide a little more. He asked about the bucket list, which was the point when he started convincing him to not jump.

Mentioning things Squall wanted to do along with Jack, helped a lot. It made the world seem much bigger than just him and his wife he lost. Squall was able to push the man's mind into the good things and off the bad. In doing so it left him not angry anymore, but sad at the thought of missing those things. That is the point that Squall really started to talk enough to pressure him into not jumping. He used what the man's dreams in his life were.

It was so perfect and precise. I wish someday I can think like that, where I convince people to just not jump. I can still barely shoot people. Even with all this tough training they still got me on.

My thoughts were interrupted when Squall stood up from his chair.

"So what's that make it?" Irvine leaned casually back in his chair.

"I believe that would be eight for eight," Seifer answered for Squall.

Squall quickly turned and marched off slightly angry. As he did he spoke over his shoulder. "He was never gonna jump, it doesn't count."

"Why's he so pissed?" Selphie asked finally sitting up.

Seifer shrugged. "His thongs pulled up to tight."

"Personal experience Seifer," Quistis smugly asked.

He smirked, "Yeah, I've seen you pissed off enough to know when it's too tight."

Quistis huffed and turned away causing Seifer to let out a short laugh. It was a nice try Quistis but even I've learned you don't beat Seifer. It's just not possible.

"Okay…" Zell eyed the couple weirdly. "Does anyone really know why he's a little pissed?"

"So he's having a rough day, just let it go." Seifer waved it off.

There was a connection between those two, Seifer and Squall. I know they knew each other before anyone else. They trained together in the police academy too...but there was still just something more. Maybe just an above understanding that we couldn't comprehend. It isn't that big of a deal to me, I'm not jealous or anything like that. There was just always this mysteriousness in this place that I couldn't shake. I felt a part of the group now but there was still just so much more to know. Everyone had their past, and I knew everyone's, even some of Squall and Seifer's but theirs is just somehow harder to grasp than the rest.

"So now what?" Irvine asked rocking lazily in his chair.

"The news is on," Quistis glanced at her petite watch on her wrist. "Should we see if there is anything special we should work on?"

"Hey that sounds like a good plan," Selphie cheered already jumping out of her chair.

She leaped over the couch and snatched the remote. She plopped down on the floor crossing her legs as she flicked the TV on and turned it to the local news. One thing I've learned, is if we ever need a _special _assignment, the answer is just to turn on the news. There is always something wrong that we might be able to fix. Most of the time Squall actually turns this stuff down. It makes sense in a way, if it's on the news then it attracts a lot of attention. We aren't trying to be flashy doing police work. But sometimes there is someone that is in a bind and only we can help. It has been kinda boring lately.

Not boring compared to what my old life was. Just when I first joined this team everything was so exciting. There was always some project to work on or some new thing to learn. It's hard to explain, because I'm not complaining, I just thought it would always be exciting. Most of the time now everyone is just lying around and every once in a while someone will go out and do some work. I've gone on a couple night runs even. We just take out some scum on the street, it was nerve racking at first, and even is a little bit right now. But I know in another month it will just be such a routine it won't even bother me.

Training is still tough as always. Two days ago might've been the worst.

"_Don't you fucking stop!" Squall screamed in my face. _

"_I'm not!" I shouted back. _

"_Then why are you slowing?" Seifer smugly asked. _

"_Because Squall keeps punching me!" I exclaimed. _

_I was doing leg lifts, or crunches or whatever the fuck you call them. I was hoisting myself up with my arms on this contraption so I was off the ground. I would then bring my knees up to my chest and did this over and over. It strengthens your abs which is great. What's not great is Squall doing a three-punch combo into my stomach every time my legs go down. _

"_Bring those legs back up Heartilly!" Squall screamed literally inches from my face. _

"_This isn't the military!" I snapped back grunting loudly and unattractively I might add. _

"_You're fucking right this isn't the military!" Squall punched me in the stomach as my legs went down. "This is a secret organization stronger than the military. You cannot get caught, you cannot die, I will not allow either. You have committed to this group and to die is to quit. Do you want to quit!?"_

"_No." I groaned tiredly. _

"_What!?" He screamed. _

"_No sir, asshole sir!" I shouted right back at his face. _

_He let a smirk slip through and I saw it, I knew he was proud of me right now. "Then don't stop! You do not stop lifting those skinny ass legs until your arms cannot hold your fat ass up anymore! I want you to collapse to the ground unable to move. That is the only time you are allowed to stop."_

"_I only have one request." I proposed. _

"_A request?"It caught him off guard enough he didn't even yell. _

"_Can you let Seifer punch me, yours kinda tickle and I don't wanna laugh and slip."I smiled smugly at him. _

_Squall just smirked and stepped back. My face dropped when Seifer stepped in. _

"_Not smart, not smart at all." He cracked his knuckles and I knew I just made my situation worse. _

So yeah, training is as terrible as ever but I do notice how in shape I'm getting. I can easily run around four miles at a decent pace. I can almost sprint straight for a quarter mile before slowing my pace. It keeps getting longer everyday so I know this is working. I can feel my body being sore all the time but I can see my muscles actually getting bigger. I feel lighter almost, and so much more energy. The fat is basically dripping off my body and I love it.

"Hey the Cop-Catcher is at it again!" Selphie called out snapping me from my thoughts.

Seifer walked over to the hallway. "Squall!" Seifer called out. "Check this out!" He then stood and watched.

The Cop-Catcher was the name given to some guy or possibly group, that goes around capturing cops.

I sat next to Selphie on the floor with my legs crossed. Irvine, Zell, and Quistis took random chairs. Once Squall entered the room Selphie turned the volume up like people always do when something important is being said.

The usual anchorwoman was on. Her name was Brenda Bree I believe. It's a snappy name which I guess fits her job perfectly. She looked like the rest of the news people, with long brown hair that seemed thicker than it should be. Perfectly in place with a spotless face. Regal and professional she was the best in the city and even I had to admit I liked her. She knew how to say things just right and when further explanation was needed. Many times she would improvise and it worked well.

"**The Cop Catcher is at it once again. This is the 10****th**** and 11****th****personel that have gone missing. Detective Carl Miles and Detective John Cass were discovered missing this morning."**

Pictures of the two detective faces appeared on the screen. They looked familiar…and their names were too.

The anchorwoman continued, "**Just like all the others they were in the city at night and mysteriously disappeared. Their car was left unlocked and keys in the ignition. They were most likely taken by surprise. This is just as discerning as past abductions, but even more so since this team has been famous throughout the city. They have closed many cases together and have been known for how close they've come to outing the Saints.**

"Lies," Seifer snorted.

Saints…

"Oh my God!" I exclaimed jumping out of my chair.

"What?" Quistis asked.

"I know them. They were the two that were put on my Dad's case."

"Wow, what a coincidence," Zell commented.

"**We like to once again ask that if anyone has any information at all, please let your local authorities know. Any information at all may help bring this criminal to justice." **

Selphie turned the volume back down and looked back at the rest of the group.

"Well we have to do something," I spoke first.

"No we don't," Squall of course disagreed.

"Why not?" I inquired. "This is the perfect job for us."

"No it's not," He argued, "We are as lost as the rest of the world. Maybe if we had something I'd play along, but right now it's a lost cause. We'll just keep our eyes and ears open and see what comes up."

"That's bullshit and you know it," I complained. "Those two guys are good people, along with the rest of the cops I'm sure. We can save them and that would even be good for our reputation too. Saving police, maybe they'll back off a bit."

Squall closed his eyes and squeezed his hands, he was really upset and I wasn't sure why. "We have no leads, we can't find anything. Even for J.R. we had pictures and theories. We don't have the slightest clue for this. We aren't detectives; there are enough people to just shoot on the street that we don't have to go searching for them."

"Squall, I'm with Rinoa on this one," Zell said placing his hands behind his head.

"Thank you Zell," I smiled at him before turning back to Squall. "We can do this, I know we can. Seifer has assets right?"

Seifer leaned against the wall next to the TV. "They won't be any help with this. They know people who stay away from cops. Drug dealers, money launderers, arms dealers, they know those kind of people. They won't be able to get anything on some guys capturing police. Street scum probably like this guy and would never give him up."

"See." Squall snorted.

I stood up from the ground and faced him. "I know you aren't giving up that easily. Come on, who knows what they are going through. We could at least try."

"It's pointless." He pressed.

"There is Jack Frost," Irvine spoke out from behind me.

I whipped around at him, "Jack Frost?" I turned back to Squall. "Who's Jack Frost?"

"A true street urchin." Seifer answered. "My assets just mingle with people on the street for me, they don't have to live with them. Jack Frost is a drug dealer that is broke, dirty, untrustworthy, any and all bad habits that you can think of."

"No he loves his daughter," Selphie said.

"Wait," I held my hands out silencing everyone. "I feel you know this man better than you lead on. Why do you know him and how could he help?"

"We put his daughter through college," Quistis explained. "He can't afford it for her-"

"-So he gives us information since we pay for his daughter," I finished for her.

"Kinda," Irvine said.

"His daughter thinks he is dead, so he can never see her." Squall explained.

"He likes us to update him with information on her," Seifer continued. "Sadly though, we don't have anything new so he hasn't given us anything. I guess we'll have to stalk her for a couple days."

Squall pinched the bridge of his nose. "Are we really doing this?"

"Yes…please." I told him touching his arm.

He let out a sigh, "Selphie and Quistis get over to DU and find her. You look like you're in college so you'll blend in."

"It's winter, how are we supposed to find her around campus." Selphie questioned, "She's probably just inside her dorm and we can't get to her in there."

"The fire lounge," I suggested and everyone looked at me. "Remember, I use to go there. It's where people hang out usually in the winter."

Quistis stood up stretching, "You wouldn't happen to know a Natasha Frost would you. It would make everything easier."

My mouth dropped, "Are you fucking serious. She's my best friend."

Everyone's eyes popped out of their head and jaws hit the floor, just like mine.

Squall ran a hand down his face, "You know Natasha Frost…the fucking chances."

Seifer chuckled, "Christ, this means we have to find the Cop-Catcher doesn't it?"

Squall just grunted.

"Well let's get a move on." Irvine leaped up from the couch

"Wait a second." I exclaimed. I waited until everyone's eyes were on me. "You're telling me Nat's father is alive, and he is your informant. She thinks he's dead."

"Yes…we said that," Squall said annoyed.

I ran a hand through my hair as I tried to wrap my head around it. "That's how Quistis knew where my apartment was that day you drove me home. That's how she affords DU…the fuck…her dad's alive."

"Yes…we've been over this." Squall's tone didn't change.

"Well it's still fucking hard to comprehend alright!" I shouted. I paced for a second to calm down. I let out a deep breath. "I'm sorry…it's just. I've been there when she's cried about how she has no family. I would take her home for dinner a lot to make sure she didn't feel left out. She thinks I'm in Centra right now traveling the world. How am I supposed to not tell her that her father is alive?"

"You can't," Squall strongly told me. "It isn't up to you, it's up to her father, who currently is hiding from her. He feels ashamed, as he should be, and therefore won't confront her. One day he will but until that day, we cannot tell her."

"It doesn't sound right," I stated.

"We watch out for her, ya know," Zell tried to cheer me up. "Make sure she has her books, and her grades are good."

"How?" I played with my fingers looking down. How could Nat's father really be alive? I held her on night's she cried about it. How could the Saints be the one paying for her college? I've been this close to them this whole time.

"She thinks it's some charity or scholarship." Quistis explained. "We aren't too specific but it's money and it works, so she doesn't question. She sends us a copy of her grades every semester and we make sure she is doing well…which she always does."

"Rinoa," I looked up at Squall. "Her father is giving his daughter a chance at life in the only way he knows how. His entire family history is filled with criminals and villains. He got his daughter away from it all and we help to keep it that way."

I took another deep breath. "So now what?"

"Seifer what's the time?" Squall asked.

"Time for you to reach into your pocket for your fucking phone."

Squall muttered some unforgiving words as he glared at Seifer's smug face. He grabbed his phone and checked the time. "Okay we have enough time to meet with Frost today. Rinoa you will tell him everything you know about Natasha. What her favorite food is, what her favorite subject is, anything and everything. We could never figure this stuff out, with you there he'll tell us everything he knows."

"What if he doesn't know anything?" Irvine asked.

"He'll owe us for a later date," Squall answered. "Now let's go."

"Cloaks or no?" Zell asked.

"No," Squall replied. "We aren't trying to send a message or scare anyone. We simply need to talk. But everyone bring your gun, we are going south side so you never know."

I nodded and dashed off to my room to grab one of my custom handguns. As much of a girl I am, I love those guns.

So all seven of us got in a minivan and made our way down to South Deling. Took us a while but we got there and we kept driving as it got dirtier, and poorer. I wasn't too surprised that we headed to a place like this. It was common for our business to take place in a spots like these. Finally Selphie pulled over and we all stepped out. It looked like a circus as we all filed out and of course some guy was standing against the wall watching us.

"Fuck me," He laughed. "All ya fit in a cahr like that 'un. Where ya goin' soccer practice?"

Squall greeted him, "Maybe…maybe not…maybe fuck ya-self."

The man smiled, "Well don't go picking no fight now."

"Make fun of my car again and you'll see."

"Oh it's a pretty cahr for sure."

Squall smiled, "Blow me." Before he started walking away and we followed.

The man waved us off, "Ah fuck ya-self."

A classic South Deling greeting.

We walked in a big messy group down the sidewalk. There were only a couple people out because of how cold it was. I was sure in the warmer seasons these streets would be filled with people. Just hanging around with nothing else to do but enjoy the weather. But as of right now it was cold, dark, and rather gloomy.

South Deling was a mixture of houses and buildings. It wasn't all poor. We just drove to the poor section of course. It wasn't as crowded as the main city in the center but it had its various alleys and couple storied buildings. Then there would be a cluster of houses that weren't completely rundown, but they weren't exactly attractive. It was obvious the tenants didn't care for keeping them clean but there weren't boards, plastic, or duck tape on the window. Basically, I've seen much worse but this still was sad for me to see.

"That's the alley," Squall nodded to one across the street.

Squall lead with Seifer, than me next to Zell, followed by the rest. I glanced over my shoulder at Qusitis. I didn't think she would be coming on this but I guess it would suck to be stuck at the apartment all day. Almost be like getting left out all the time, this way she can come with us and it shouldn't be dangerous. Then again, maybe Nat's father will be saying some important things and instead of waiting to get second hand accounts, she can hear it first hand and it will be much more helpful in finding this Cop-Catcher.

We entered the alley between a corner building and just a regular building. The alley went far back and I realized the alley was like an 'L' since it lined the corner building. Meaning, it had two entrances, or I guess, two exists. Whatever a drug dealer cares for more. We reached the corner and I realized it turned left. Meaning, it wasn't an 'L' it was a 'T'. We were walking up the vertical part and turning left is bringing us deeper into all the buildings, further away from the streets. This lead to a dead end but there were people down there, so it was our destination…I think.

"Why are there four people?" Seifer grimaced.

"Because Frost is fucking retarded." Squall growled.

"So…this isn't normal," I asked.

"No it's not," Zell answered before smiling and jerking his head at the four men. "Look, they've spotted us."

"Everyone keep cool and follow my lead," Squall commanded.

We were about fifteen yards away when one man turned on us and pulled up a shotgun. He held it tightly smiling at us proud that he had a gun at us now. We instantly knew this kind of man, trying to be a gangster and intimidating. Having a shotgun pointing at your face could do just that though.

However, Seifer could not stop the snort of laughter from escaping. "Look at the size of it."

A couple chuckles went around our group, including me. It was tiny without exaggeration, it looked to be only a foot or two long…pretty sad.

"Shut up!" He exclaimed. "Or I'll put a round in your head."

"Hope you don't miss, you only got two shots," Seifer jeered.

"It's a Super Shorty," Squall heckled.

"I'll blow your fucking head off!" He screamed again.

Squall leaned to the side and tipped his head. "Hey Frost, is that you on the ground."

"Who the fuck else is it!?" He exclaimed.

"The fuck you do this time, dumbass?" Squall politely asked.

"I didn't do shit!" He cursed back.

"Your friend here is in our territory." A man, that was originally behind the shotgun man, stepped forward. "He needs to leave before his life leaves him."

Seifer pinched his nose lowering his head letting out an annoyed sigh. "That sounds like something fucking chicken-wuss would say."

I covered up another laugh as Zell scowled. How was it that even in serious situations they managed to turn it into a complete joke. It made me relax though, because it obviously meant they weren't worried at all.

"Yo B', you know this ain't their spot, its mine man." Frost was directing that at Squall.

"Shut up!" The third man stomped on Frost's stomach causing him to groan loudly and gasp for air.

"It's ours now," The leader said to Squall. "So get your friend and leave."

Squall quirked an eyebrow. "Couple things." He raised a finger as in 'wait_'._ "One: he isn't our friend, we don't even like this guy. Two: don't order me, really…just don't. Three:….Do you guys know your black."

"Excuse me," The leader growled.

Squall spread his arms wide. "This is South Deling, it's reserved for the Micks. Try North Deling."

"Naw tons of Guidos." Zell warned. "Try East Deling, you'll fit in there."

"Okay," The leader held out his hands. "Apparently we got some racist motherfuckers here."

"Want me to take care of them boss?" The shotgun man asked.

"Once again, you have two shots, there are seven of us." Seifer deadpanned.

"Don't forget my piece." The leader also pulled back his coat to reveal his handgun.

The man aimed the shotgun at Seifer, "But I'll make sure I take you out."

"With that tiny thing, that's almost degrading."

"I'll show you little." The man stepped forward.

Seifer flailed his arms back and forth. "God no, keep it in your pants."

The man looked like he was going to break his teeth.

"Enough." Squall hissed.

He was probably upset for how long it was carrying on. He didn't want to come here in the first place but now he had to deal with these three wise-guys bullying a simple drug dealer.

Squall stepped to the side and grabbed my hand pulling me next to me. I noticed that Selphie backed up behind me and across Zell, Seifer, and Quistis were stepping back as well. Looking back to my left I saw Irvine standing in the center. We were only a step or two back, Selphie could reach out and touch him, but it was obvious he was the point of interest. The shot-gunner turned and pointed his weapon at the cowboy who had his hat tipped like a pro. His leather brown duster was hanging down covering his body.

"What ya want cowboy!" The man shouted.

Irvine used the back of his hand to pull back one side of his duster revealing a silver magnum in a holster at his hip. He looked up slightly letting his eyes peer out from beneath the rim of his hat. He let a small knowing smirk grace his face as he raised his left hand to lower the hat brim a bit.

God, he really had this whole cliché cowboy thing down.

"You three better leave now, ya hear?" Irvine's voice was soothing and calm like always. No death traveled with the words and no blood seemed to be stained on them. I hear Squall and Seifer usher death threats all the time and they are scary as hell. Irvine's was like a relaxing suggestion.

The man with the shotgun laughed bitterly looking back at his friend. "Are you crazy!? I have a gun pointed at you. If you even touch yours I'm gonna shoot."

Another slick smirk appeared on Irvine's face. "Do you think you can pull the trigger before I pull mine."

Okay, wait…fuck this. Irvine might look like a cowboy but he isn't an actual one and that definitely means he can't beat this man's finger. It's ridiculous….but the shot-gunner actually readjusted his grip. He was nervous.

Then in a flash….

_**BANG!**_

It was loud and deafening. He didn't have a silencer, it was a magnum too _and _we were in a fucking tight alley. That shit was loud but I barely noticed. I was too stunned to see a bullet in the man's head and as he fell Squall reached out and grabbed the shotgun. He tipped it down so as the man fell he wouldn't hit the trigger. Squall flipped the gun in his hand and pointed it at the leader causally.

"Gun please." He smiled holding out one hand which was quickly given a new handgun.

I glanced back at Irvine to see him holding his silver strong magnum at his waist. I honestly didn't even see his hand move aside the blur. To grab it and aim that well from the hip _and _in lightning speed. His badassness just soared even more. I guess I was wrong too, he is a cowboy through and through. Doing a real quick draw.

Suddenly an even louder noise happened right next to me. It sounded like an explosion and I literally jumped off the ground a little. The echo bounced around for a while before dissipating. I turned back to see smoke coming off the Super Shorty and another body on the ground…no head, but there was a body.

"God damnit Squall," Seifer made a disgusted face. "Did you have to blow his head off."

"…I didn't think this gun had that much power in it," Squall looked equally surprised and disgusted.

"You were a foot away!" Zell yelled. "Whaddya expect?"

"Not that," Squall replied.

I looked at Quistis to see her staring straight down at the ground taking longer than normal breaths. I walked over and gave her a squeeze on the shoulder. She looked up and gave me a meek smile.

"Don't think about it." I told her.

"Hard not to," She replied honestly, "Just don't wanna see it again."

_**BOOM!**_

"_Squall!"_ I screamed.

"What!?" He exclaimed.

"God man, again!?" Seifer yelled.

"It wasn't his head!" Squall argued.

"Does it matter!?" I shouted rubbing Quistis back as she has to turn around and look in the opposite direction.

"His insides are falling out," Zell commented like he was also about to puke.

"The fuck is wrong with you people," Frost exclaimed covered in blood from the third dead man.

"Us? Him." Seifer motioned to Squall.

"I kind of like this gun," Squall twisted it a bit. "I'm keeping it."

"NO!" Everyone shouted at the same time.

"God first a hatchet now a boom boom stick." I commented. "Can't you kill people normally."

Squall raised his hands in defeat. "Whatever." He turned towards Selphie and tossed her the emptied shotgun. "Here, you like powerful things, and it's in your size."

"Oh Squally, you're so thoughtful," Selphie eyed the gun like a diamond.

"What is with the women in our group," Seifer groaned. "I swear they have gun fever."

Frost stood up from the ground and attempted to wipe the blood off of him, a failed attempt. He then raised his hand in the air like a student in class.

"Uhh you," Irvine jokingly pointed at him.

"I have one question…what the _fuck _are you doin' here!?"

"Alright, enough shit," Squall growled showing he was back to his usual wonderful self. It did make us all stop talking and smiling. We were here on business after all and joking with a couple guys was one thing. It kept them off guard and it was a humorous situation, but now that they were all gone…well dead. It was time to get down to real business. That meant getting information out of Nat's dad.

I stared at him good and hard to see who was the man to leave Nat all by herself. He seemed completely average. He was black, with short hair so I know he got it cut which concluded he did care for his appearance somewhat. Even if he had some scraggily beard growing on his face. His clothes weren't nice but they didn't have holes in them if that counted for anything. They had blood stains now, but that wasn't his fault. All in all, he looked like a drug dealer, but I feel if he wasn't in an alley and shaved, he would look pretty normal. Other dealers are addicted and look like hell itself. I got the feeling Nat's dad didn't _do _whatever he sold.

"So what are you doin' here?" He asked again lifting his arms then dropping them again in frustration.

"We need info." Squall told him.

"Info?" He looked around at all of us. "Well you know what I said last time right?"

"We just saved your life," Squall pointed out bluntly.

"Never asked ya to," Frost smiled brightly showing his surprisingly perfect white teeth. "Made another mistake didn't ya."

"I'm gonna shoot him." Squall ran a hand down his face. "Look just give us the info, you owe us."

"Naw man," Nat's dad jabbed a finger into Squall's chest. "I don't owe you shit."

"We are putting your daughter through college," Squall growled.

"Yeah, and I don't think you'll suddenly cut her funding either, know what I'm sayin'." He stepped back a bit because Squall wasn't looking too happy. "And I don't think you'll kill me neither."

"The only reason we haven't killed you yet, is because of Natasha." Squall looked to be trying hard to control his temper. "But I think what she doesn't know, won't hurt her."

"Man, I know your bluffing, what you think I'm stupid."

Squall paused for a second just staring at him. Everyone else just watched but didn't seem worried so I feel like this is more or less how it always goes.

Squall cracked his neck, "Why don't you just tell us? I mean being completely serious, why always this argument?"

Nat's dad gestured at all of us. "Because telling you shit can get me killed man."

"We're looking for the Cop-Catcher," Squall stated. He slid his hands into his pockets and shrugged. "Just tell us what you know, it's all we ask."

"Fuck no!" He exclaimed throwing his arms in exaggeration. "Are you kidding me man. That shit will get a bullet in my head." He made a gun out of his hand shot himself in the head. "I might tell you something else, but nuttin on that man."

"Why not? Who would know you told us?" Squall pressed.

Nat's dad shook his head. "Hell no man, just no. Ain't going near that shit."

"But you do know something?" Squall urged.

"I don't know nothing, about no Cop-Catcher or Snitch-Snatcher or Grub-Grabber."

"We get the point," Squall replied. He motioned his hand for me to step forward and I did. "Do you notice there are seven of us this time. There use to be only six."

"Naw I didn't," He jerked his head at me. "Who this?"

"This is Rinoa," I was a little shocked he used my real name. It meant they didn't think Nat's dad would ever report them or it meant…they did trust him a little. "She was in your daughter's class."

Nat's dad tipped his head and looked at me. He pounded his fist into his hand. It wasn't in an intimidating way, just kind of something to do with his hands. He always seemed to be moving around, kind of like Zell in that aspect.

"You've seen my daughter?" He asked sounding serious for once.

I looked him in the eye. "I haven't just seen her…I'm her best friend."

He waved his hand and shook his head stepping back. "Naw man, fuck that shit. You tryin' to play me." He looked back at Squall. "That shit is too much a coincidence. My girl's best friend joining your crew. That shit don't happen, man."

"It is...or maybe it was meant to happen." Squall answered.

I stepped forward drawing his attention. "I promise you. Me and Nat are best friends."

"Yeah?" He crossed his arms over his chest. "Then what you think about me?"

"I think you're a piece of shit for leaving your daughter," I responded without hesitation. "Yeah I get you are trying to do what's best for her, but she needs a father. She's cried at night, on birthdays, on holidays. I was always holding her, telling her how great a man her father probably was. Now I know who you really are, you're just shit. Selling drugs, refusing to help a group of people who only _help _others. Being selfish, not even attempting to look out for your daughter on your own."

I shook my head disgusted at him. If Nat couldn't chew him out I sure as hell was. I wasn't near done either. "I know that she prays for you and her mom…every night. Hoping that you're doing okay in Heaven, 'cause that where she thinks you are. She refuses to think you are any type of bad man. If she knew who you really were…it would crush her, but you know…even if it crushed her…she would know she had some family. I can understand not being able to get out of a bad neighborhood, and I was hoping coming to see you. I would see a man stuck, down in the dumps looking for a way out. Not some little fucker who is an ass to the very people who are helping him in life."

I stepped back finding myself angrier than I thought I would get. "Fuck you…just…fuck you."

Nat's dad kept nodding his head looking like he was trying to think. He rubbed his mouth and beard a bit before looking at Squall. "She's absolutely right." He tipped his head back looking up at the sky and ran his hands down his face. "God I hate myself."

While he was doing that Squall glanced over his shoulder at me. He gave me a look like 'where was that from'. Obviously he was impressed of my rant I just went on.

"She can still tell you anything you want to know about her," Squall told him friendly.

He rubbed his hands together, "Alright, alright." He thought for a moment. "What's her favorite ice cream?"

"Chocobo Tracks," I responded instantly, I paused for a second then decided to give him a better answer. "She likes to eat all the ice cream first, leaving the peanut butter cups for the end. So she can eat them all together."

He smiled hearing that. "Favorite subject?"

"Science," I told him earnestly. "She's a wiz at Chemistry. I was failing and she tutored me and she's the reason I passed it."

He nodded happy with a huge smile still on his face. "Favorite color?"

That made me sad. He was asking such simple question and it really made me think. He didn't know what his daughter's favorite color was…that was remarkable. I guess I was a little harsh, it's as hard for him as it is her. Maybe harder for him since he _knows _she's alive. I couldn't imagine being a parent and not knowing the most basic facts of my child.

"Purple," I told him. "Says pink is too bright along with blue, and red is too gory. Black too depressing, white too boring, yellow to sunny and green to old…I never know what she means by that."

Her dad let out a chuckle hearing it. "Can she drive?"

I nodded, "I had my butler teach us."

He glanced at Squall. "You picked up a rich white girl for your crew."

Squall smirked, "I'm pretty sure she just gave you quite the talking."

He chuckled again. "True, true."

And so it went on and on. He asked question after question and I answered them all. One point even a couple tears started to slip through. I couldn't imagine what it must've been like for him to finally hear all these details about his daughter. After almost two decades of not knowing anything about her to knowing everything. It was overwhelming.

"Can we get a little info now?" Squall asked after a good amount of time. He wasn't trying to be mean or rude. We needed information and I did tell Frost quite a lot.

Nat's dad nodded. "Alright, alright." He rubbed his hands together. "Listen, you didn't hear it from me, but there's a rumor going 'round."

"Okay?"

"Says the Cop-Catcher likes to pick off cops that aren't on duty technically."

"Explain." Squall ordered.

Nat's dad stepped closer as if someone was listening in. "Good policemen will check things out after their shift. You know, check up on a family or something. They don't report that in, so the dispatch don't know where there at, ya know what I mean?"

"So when they get taken, it isn't discovered until they are reported missing. If they were on duty they would have to sign in every once in a while." Squall pieced it together.

"That's it, that's it," Nat's dad said proudly. "This guys smart see, he follows certain cops around but not all the time. Just knows when they will probably make a visit after hours, or when not on duty."

"How come the police haven't figured this out?" Zell asked.

"'Cause they ain't paying attention to that shit man!" Frost explained, "They just see a cop disappear and figure when and where. It's not like they were at some secret place like a titty bar or somethin'. So when the investigators see a officer was checking in on a victim's family. It just seems normal, ya know?"

"So how do you know this?" Seifer questioned.

"Yo, you know, people talk." He answered. "Everyone knows he snatches those cops in slums so there won't be reports. Even the police know that, but they can't do nothing about it. One couple miles from here."

"So one of your druggies saw him?" Seifer suggested.

Jack Frost nodded. "A friend of a friend."

"Is it reliable?" Squall asked.

"Yeah, swear to my mother it is. He was fucked up I mean, but he knows what he saw."

Squall grunted not liking this source at all. "Well what did he see?"

Nat's dad shrugged. "A police dude getting stuffed in a car…I guess."

"You're just making this shit up," Seifer grimaced.

"No, I swear," Nat's dad looked back and forth at Squall and Seifer. "Look, I just know that if you put someone in a police uniform and have them hang out a bit in random places. You might get lucky."

"I thought he follows his victims, watching them," I reminded.

"Naw, guess I shouldn't have said that," Nat's dad thought for a moment. "It's more like he just knows the schedule, ya know?"

"That makes more sense," Squall commented. "He strikes a lot in a little amount of time, completely random, but a lot. Usual criminals like this will do this over years and years. This guy seems like he is just doing it whenever he wants."

"But then why isn't he getting caught for being reckless?" Zell asked.

Squall shook his head, "He isn't reckless…he knows what cops are technically off duty and which ones aren't. Got his hands on a schedule would make sense, maybe just read a newspaper. There are entire sections designated to crime, if he read those he could know leading investigators and detectives."

"So what are we going to do?" Quistis inquired.

Squall turned to us and smirked. "Did anyone want to be a police officer when they grew up?"

* * *

**Alright, so I have updated after what is it, three months? Shit that's a long time. Well tell me what you think of this long awaited chapter. I'll like to hear some guesses to what you think is going to happen in this story...i bet you're wrong.  
**


	16. Horror

**Well it's been a while hasn't it? Excuses….ehhh not really but if this chapter may seem rushed and/or choppily put together. That's because the ideas in this one chapter were originally going to take about three chapters. I didn't want that, so it took some time and managed to work it out where it could just be one chapter and keep pretty much everything that seemed worthy. So, there's that. Enjoy.

* * *

**

**January 29**

**Squall's POV**

"Forgive me father for I have sinned."

"How many times since your last confession my son?"

"Two weeks, father."

"What are you sins my son?"

"Murder and rape, father."

"You have continually confessed these crimes."

"I do them a lot, and I feel bad. That's why I come to confession, because I want to be clean."

"No."

"No?"

"You are using presumption and that does not condone your sins. In fact, it increases them since you want to lie to yourself and God."

"Father?I don't understand."

"Mark Fabrice, your punishment is hell and you shall not be saved."

"Father, what are you saying? How do you know who I am?"

"I am no priest, but a saint. But more importantly, I am your punisher, you have been damned." I leaned closer to the screen and whispered. "Give my regards to the devil."

Before he could even react I unloaded an entire clip through a silencer into him. I heard no movement or no breath. I stepped out of the confessional and straightened my coat. I walked towards the alter. Jesus hung on the cross and looked down sadly at me.

I nodded my head, "Sorry for the mess." No response so I turned around. I took a step but landed on the side of my foot twisting my ankle slightly before straightening myself out. I glanced back over my shoulder at the cross, "Better than lightning," I mumbled.

I walked out into the side room. Seifer was sitting next to the priest who was mumbling prayers nervously.

"All done pumpkin?" He asked sweetly.

"Let's go, I wanna check on how she's doing."

"Alright, alright."Seifer stood up and patted the priest on the shoulder. "See you Sunday father."

"Do not come into my church again!" He demanded.

Seifer shrugged, "People never say you're welcome these days."

"You have committed murder in my church! In God's House!" He exclaimed.

"Whatever," Seifer waved him off.

"You will go to Hell!" He shouted standing up. "You have wronged mankind, you have lied to yourselves and to this crusade you have imagined. You are no better than the man you just killed. Who are you to do such a thing! You cowards!"

"Father," I spoke calmly, so calmly it surprised him enough to shut up. I walked up in front of him. He took a step back hesitantly, I can't really blame him. I looked him in the eye. "Who are we to do such a thing? Cowards?"I repeated. "We are the courageous for doing what must be done."

"You fool, you utter, utter fool."

My phone vibrated in my pocket. I took it out and tossed it to Seifer. He answered it and took a couple steps away. I turned back to the priest.

"Did you enjoy that man coming into your church?" I asked. "Did you like him in your neighborhood doing the things he did and you couldn't say anything about it? Was it pleasing to see him picking out the next girl he wanted to rape while at Sunday mass?"

The priest's eyes downshifted because he knew it was true.

"Unlike you father, I am not afraid of the Devil or the idea of hell. I will risk my soul on what I believe in. Wouldn't you?"

"It is not the right way." He stressed.

"Right or wrong, that man won't bother anyone, anymore. That is something we are both happy about."

"I know your faces," He changed tactics. "I can turn you in."

I smirked challengingly. "Then do it."

His face downcast so I knew already that he wouldn't do it.

"Yo."

I turned to look at Seifer.

"She's gone."

My eyes narrowed dangerously. "Gone?"

"Yes." Seifer met my gaze.

"What do you mean gone?" I hissed. "Did we lose her?"

"Obviously."Good thing Seifer was with me. He was never afraid of me which was good in case I ever flipped out. Like I was about to.

"She ain't a pair of fucking sunglasses is she?" I growled, "The fuck do you mean, we lost her?"

"I mean, the chicken-wuss was watching her and suddenly she was gone, just disappeared." Seifer matched my tone, I knew he was just as upset.

"And our fucking eagle?" Meaning Irvine.

"Apparently she's fucking Houdini."

I ran a hand down my face. "Say a prayer father, for there is more blood about to be spilled."

Boy was Rinoa going to give it to me later.

* * *

**Rinoa's POV**

Squall was getting hell later for this.

The bag was ripped off my head. I was met with a toothy-yellewish grin of an old man. He fit all the stereotypes of mad scientist. Balding spot on top of his head with white hair wrapping around the sides of it. He had a bloody white lab coat on with black gloves that went up his arms and over his sleeves. Thick square glasses perched on his nose and his eyes enlarged looking at me. His nose seemed to be broken in the past since a giant bump stuck out of it. He was unshaven but his old age couldn't grow too much hair anymore.

"Why hello." The old man smiled at me, only inches away from my face. I didn't reply and he didn't lose his smile. After a moment of staring he spoke again. "Bet you wonder where you are?"

I shrugged.

He looked a little taken aback by my answer. He spread his arms wide, "This doesn't make you question what's going on."

I could only turn my head, because of course, I was tied to a chair. Well not tied…handcuffed. My hands were handcuffed to each arm and my feet to the two front legs, so there was no real way I was getting out of this chair, which was also metal and bolted to the floor. This man knew what he was doing. The room had no windows or vents from what I could tell. There were two florescent lights that did brighten the place pretty well, but it only helped display the blood splattered floor and walls. The room itself wasn't too big either. Maybe ten yards about.

I looked to my right and there were two tables touching each other looking like they were forming one, pushed up against the wall. I actually felt my heart skip a beat at the sight of what was on those tables. Hammers, nails, screws, saws, whips, drills, pikes, stakes, string, chains, axes, beaters, hedge cutters, little tiny leaf cutters, nail clippers, even some fucking bamboo. There was literally every kind of tool you could imagine plus all the utensils that could be used for torture. It scared the shit out of me. This was some serious shit I got myself into.

I wasn't even supposed to get to this part. They were supposed to catch they guy before taking me a way, and _we_ were supposed to do the interrogating. But that's why we have a tracker in my shoes sole. For if things went bad, which they did. Now I just had to remember how long they said it would take for them to find me. Was it five minutes…or twenty-five. I really gotta start paying attention better.

"Well don't worry you have company," The man said.

I looked to my left and it took all my will to not gasp. I kept my stone cold face as I witnessed some of the most horrific sights. There were two people next to me. Well, I should say there is one person and _was _another. To my immediate left was a body with his head tipped back and mouth hanging open. He didn't have a tongue, there were nails were his eyes should've been, ears stapled, wrists bent in awkward positions, feet…missing, nails gone, shirt bled through profusely, and worst of all, I recognized him as Detective Miles…barely.

I leaned forward and could see Detective Cass leaning forward with his head down. He was breathing heavily and sobbing. I didn't think he was hurt until I looked at his legs. They were severely cutup and bent in awkward positions. Maybe not broken, but definitely not all well and good.

I watched as the old man skipped over excitedly to Cass. "Hey Cass, look, I brought a friend."

He didn't look up. He just cried with his head down. The man shrugged and spun back around to me. "Sorry about that, little Detective is being rude, I hope you aren't offended."

"How'd you carry me here?" I asked. I was taken by someone literally lassoing me like a fucking cowboy. I was yanked off my feet and was rushed here. This man seemed to old and weak to be able to do that.

He chuckled, "I am stronger than I look." He raised his two arms to show me biceps. "And I'm a pretty good cowboy aren't I?" He smiled and walked back up to me. He crossed his arm across his stomach and bowed, "Doctor Giovanni, at your service." He walked over to the table and grabbed my wallet. Fake wallet I might add.

"Officer Tammy Tate." He mused. "Bet you didn't expect this did you?"

"Why do you do this?" I asked just not answering his question. I did this for a couple reasons. One, to get my own answers. Two, because answering questions shows things about yourself, and you do not want the other person knowing anything about you. Three, I wanted to see if it would piss him off. I was trying to figure him out while asking questions that everyone would ask, so it didn't seem weird. Also, whether he answered it or not, gave me an answer. If he was arrogant, or safe. After I kick Squall's ass for this I'll have to thank him for the couple tips he gave me _in case _something bad happened. Fucking jerk-off.

"Because I like to experiment," He answered easily setting my wallet down. He walked closer to me and it looked like something caught his eye. He leaned within inches of my face looking down. Then, out of nowhere, he kissed me. Before I could even do anything he pulled back. I was shocked, I gotta be honest I didn't expect that. He didn't seem like the type to care about sex. He tasted his lips. Then he wiped his hand hard across my face. He looked at it and looked back at me.

His smile suddenly faded. "Who the fuck are you?" He didn't yell it, just asked it sounding serious for once.

"What?" I was trying hard not to freak out. What just happened? Why the sudden change?

In a flash he whipped a little pocket knife out of his pocket and jammed it into the top of my left hand. I screamed for a second but cut it short. I stamped my feet. I breathed heavily staring him in the face. My chest rising high and low and with my teeth grinding together.

He met my gaze. "I ask again, who are you?"

"I'm a fucking cop, you dick-wad!" I shouted.

"A law passed four years ago banned women officers from wearing makeup and lipstick." He accused. He grabbed my chin hard, digging his nails into my skin. "Who. Are. You!"He screamed, spit flying onto my face.

My mind cranked looking for an answer. My heart raced, I got goosebumps, the hair on my neck stood up, my blood ran cold, my adrenaline shot up. Any-fucking-thing that happens when you panic, happened. Even with all that going on inside, I didn't have any reaction on the outside that seemed like I was panicking.

"No one listens to that rule!" I screamed.

"Lies!"He shouted. He twisted the knife into my hand and I squirmed in my chair pulling hard against the handcuffs.

Where the fuck was Squall! How could he leave me in this situation?

"It's true," I cried out gripping the chair tightly from the pain. "It was official to get press off the back, but as long as you don't overdo it, you can wear makeup."

He snorted not believing me for a second. He ripped the knife out of my left hand. My blood ran cold as he braced my right hand. He aimed the knife downward.

"It's the fucking truth!" I screamed terrified. "I swear!"

"I'm not stupid," He sneered. He rose his hand higher. "You are not a cop!"

"She's telling the truth."

Both our heads whipped to see Cass looking at us. His tear stained face was hardened with determination. I knew he recognized me, there was no way he didn't. The way his eyes met mine, I knew he knew I was Rinoa Heartily. Now he was just trying to figure out what I was doing exactly.

"What?"Giovanni turned to the other prisoner.

Cass rolled his head trying to keep it straight. "No woman listens to that, and I know her. She's a cop."

The mad-scientist narrowed his eyes. He quickly opened my wallet and stepped over to Cass. "Okay then…how old is she?"

Cass glanced over at me quickly and I opened and closed my right fist four times then held up two fingers.

"Twenty-two."He answered.

"Is she from here?"

I shook my head.

"No," he answered.

"Where is she from?"

I held up three fingers hoping he could see the 'W'.

"Winhill."

"hmm." The crazy-man paced back at forth. "So you've _just_ seen her around."

Oh shit, if he just saw me around, he wouldn't know where I was from. That was too personal. He caught us.

Cass chuckled, "Alright fine…I fuck her regularly. She's pretty good piece of ass."

I don't think I've ever felt so happy for someone to say that before.

Giovanni glanced back and forth between us before cracking out loud in laughter. "That explains why she would be at the same spot I got you," He explained. "She was looking for her little boy toy." He shut my wallet and tossed it aside. "That settles that. Now let's have some fun." He walked back over to the table. "Now Cass I know you enjoy this so much but it is only polite to allow the newest guest to go first."

"No, no," Cass pressed. "Please, me."

The man looked over his shoulder and smiled. "You can't save her, my friend, she's going first."

Remember my crazy on edge nerves? They spiked even more, how could they not. I watched as this madman picked up what tool he wanted to use on me. He lifted a giant two handed hammer and I knew that's what busted Mile's knees. He set it down but that wasn't necessarily good. He picked up a buzz-saw, flipped it on and let it roar for a second. He glanced at me and smiled. Oh shit, I was showing fear. I covered it up but it was too late. He was just trying to get to me and I showed him that he was in fact getting to me.

But I was scared, there was no denying it. This wasn't some test,this wasn't some little thing where Squall could save me if I panicked. This was the real deal. I could die, and not by some quick bullet, but by some slow, extremely painful death. I felt something run down my cheek and I knew I was crying. I had to stop, I just had too. I had to be tough. I couldn't let him see me like this…but I didn't want to fucking die! Not like this, not crying tied to a chair.

And just then, something ran through my head. One of the nights all the guys got talking, telling stories and in every story. They all said at one point they were afraid they were going to die, and what did they do? They _all_ said, not just one, but every single fucking one, said that they'd never go down crying or scared. They were going to give it their all and go down fighting. With their finger on the trigger. And me sitting here…crying, hoping someone to save me…I was not having that. I was not the same girl I was, I was tough, I was strong, and I'd be fucking damn if some old fart scared me.

"Perfect." I heard a drill sound and the man turned back to face me. "You ready."

"Fuck you."

"Excuse me." He seemed taken aback.

"Ya heard me," I snarled. "Go fuck yourself."

"Ladies shouldn't swear," He smiled creepily.

"This places smells like shit," I commented looking around. "Don't you clean up, not very good host are you."

"Oh look at you being funny," He chuckled.

"Hey, hey…shut the fuck up, your voice is annoying."

I saw his eye twitch and I knew that it was slightly bothering me.

"You aren't helping your cause." He told me sounding serious.

"If you come over here, near me, anywhere around me," I tipped my head down glaring death itself. "I'll fucking bite your nuts off."

He growled, "You think this is funny?"

"Shut the fuck up!" I screamed, "Your teeth are disgusting."

He ran up to me and stuck the drill right next to my face. "Tell me to shut up again."

"Good God," I exclaimed, "Just shut up, your breath smells too."

He pressed the drill against my cheek and I didn't take my eyes off him. I didn't care if he ripped my entire body apart. If I was dying, and going to hell maybe. I was going to go down as the bitchiest, badass girl there was. No crying, no begging, no wishing. I was going to sit down with the sinners and have them fear me. I was Rinoa fucking Heartily, I was over being a pussy.

But then he stepped back. He was laughing. He walked back over to the table, laughing the whole way. This man was fucking nuts. He set the drill down and picked something else up. He spun around and faced me. He was holding a pack of cigarettes. He walked over and before I said anything he pushed one into my mouth.

"Oh no," I heard Cass say but didn't bother looking over since the madman was directly in front of me.

"You're a tough one aren't you," He applauded while lighting my cigarette.

I took a breath in and let it out professionally in his face. This was ironic. Me hating smoking and all. Hey, just 'cause I hate it doesn't mean I haven't ever. I mean, fucking college right?

"You can think you are as tough as you want," He told me still staring directly into my eyes with his old gray ones. "You will die here, and after this little stunt you pulled…it will be today. Not soon, because I will make sure it takes a while for you to die. But you will…and it will be painful."

"What are you waiting for?" I took another drag and let the smoke pour out of my mouth and inhaled it into my nose.

He smiled, "I always give a cigarette to a person who's going to die. I'm not completely evil."

"Oh, how merciful." I replied.

"So when you finish that," He knelt down and began taking my shoes off. "We're going to start with your feet."

I didn't panic about the tracker. It was in the shoe itself, it didn't have to be on me. He took my shoes and socks off. He tossed them aside and glanced up at me. Then he randomly began attempting to tickle my feet. He looked up at my face to see me glaring back down at him with no humor on my face.

"Ah you're no fun." He stood up and walked back to the table. He was only over there for a minute before coming back with small sharp bloody clippers. He squatted down and watched me smoke my last cigarette. I stared right back as I did.

"You might want to go a little slower," He smiled kindly,"You won't enjoy what happens after, no matter how tough you think you are. So people usually take as long as they can with that cigarette."

Just like I thought. It was another intimidation factor. Controlling the item you have until you began to get tortured. Knowing no matter how slow you go…your time will come. Well I wasn't going to have that. Even if I was supposed to be stalling. I know Squall is on the way, it's been long enough and even this crazy, crazy guy admitted I'd take a while to die. If he was like anyone else, he wouldn't do any serious damage that couldn't heal in time. Basically, I knew I wasn't going to die, it would take too long. That didn't mean I was feeling relaxed because those clippers looked like they could take toes off and that could be troublesome.

"Like I said, you should slow down."

I smirked. I spat the cigarette out onto the floor. I then proceeded to lean forward and step on it with my barefoot. It burned like fucking hell and you could hear the sizzle of my foot. But I didn't flinch. I stared the man right into his eyes.

"I'm tougher than you could ever imagine."

He arched an eyebrow, "Oh? We'll see about that." He put the clippers around my pinky toe. Shit. I had to stall longer, my little badass stunt might not have been the best idea. A sick wicked smile spread on his face as he slowly began to squeeze. I could feel the blades cut into my slightly.

"It doesn't matter I've head torture resistance training."

He jerked back and looked me in the eye. I simply tipped my head knowingly watching him.

"What?"

I chuckled, "You were right, I'm not a cop."

"What!" He stood up and glanced at Cass to see him smirking too. He looked back to me. "Who are you?"

I rolled my head lazily to look at Cass. "Cass over there, knows me because he was a detective on a case I was a victim in." I looked back at Giovanni. "You see, my real name is Rinoa Heartily. The Saints, you know them don't you? Well they killed my father."

Giovanni was looking back at forth between me and Cass trying to figure out what was going on.

"That's true," Cass agreed, "And supposedly, Miss Heartily over there, went on vacation to get away, and yet…here she sits?"

Something caught my eye. My shoe was vibrating, very slightly, almost unnoticeable, but I was looking for it so I noticed. Along with the tracker, they had a small device that would send out the tiniest vibration to tell me when they were within a hundred yards of me. They were here.

I smiled at Cass. "Well you see, remember how I was actually a big fan of the Saints?"

"I do." Cass nodded. He seemed a lot calmer than before. He must've known something was up, I don't know how. Maybe I just gave him strength by being so strong myself. That would be something. Me, inspiring people. That's just weird.

"Well, you have me supposedly going on 'vacation' and yet not. Then you have me admitting to have torture training. Then you have me dressed as a cop but not a cop. Then you have me walking down the same streets that I know you, Giovanni, likes to capture cops. Now…this all seems like a huge coincidence doesn't it?" I smiled brightly.

"What are you saying?" The madman seemed to be panicking. I believe he realized what was going on.

"This is a set up," I told him happily. "You, have been caught by God's workers. I am the bait, you took it, like the fucking idiot you are, and you shall be punished." I smirked, "I'm a God damn fucking Saint."

Giovanni let out a loud screech and ran back to the table. He picked up a hatchet and turned back to me. "You little cunt!" Spit was flying from his mouth and I could see the terror in his eyes.

"You know you're going to die," I whispered scaring him even more. "You know you can't escape the Saints, because they work for God, and no one can escape God."

"I'll fucking kill you!" He cried. He rose his hand and stepped over. "You little bitch!"

"Oh shit," I cursed. I got him too riled up too soon.

He swung downward at my head and I scooted forward in my seat. He just missed me and it slammed into the seat. I leaned back as hard as I could so he couldn't pull it back up. He just whipped his free hand around and smacked me in my neck. I instantly began coughing for air and it weakened my hold on the hatchet. He pulled it back up. He swung horizontally at me this time but I ducked just in time. It sailed over my head and connected into the back of the chair. I came up as fast as I could, still barely having any air but I fought through the shortness of breath. I smacked the hatchet out of his hand and felt success flow through my veins.

He growled, ran back to the table and grabbed a giant axe this time. He spun back around. Breathing heavily, eyes flaming with anger and I knew this time he wasn't going to take a chance. I wouldn't be able to dodge this one. He lifted it in a diagonal to come down in a way I wouldn't be able to dodge in this chair.

He was laughing like the crazy madman he was, and I could hear Cass screaming but I didn't know what he was saying. I was too focused on the giant axe aimed for me. I tried with fleeting hope to yank the chair off the floor, but the bolts weren't moving.

The door burst open and everyone looked over to see Squall rush in. Without waiting a second he unloaded a bullet into Giovanni's shoulder. The madman dropped the axe and I leaned away just out of reaction, though it wouldn't have hit me anyways. Squall ran up to the scientist and grabbed him by his throat. Giovanni lifted his hand but Squall put a bullet through it without hesitation. Then, with his open hand he lifted the madman off his feet and slammed him onto the table. The table broke from the hard force and they both collapsed to the ground.

Giovanni started screaming but Squall shoved a gun in his mouth silencing him.

"You have sinned against mankind and against the Lord above." Squall chanted. "Your atrocious, horrendous, appalling sins cannot be forgiven, nor shall you be given the chance. You have angered God and I have been sent in his stead. You have been damned for eternity."

Giovanni was crying out in hysterics. He placed his bullet-holed hand against Squall's face futilely pushing him away. It left a smudge of blood on Squall's handsome face. Squall took his open hand and grabbed the panicking scientist's hands and pinned them to the ground.

"I, Squall Leonhart, am your punisher and you shall burn, your flesh will peel away, then heal, only to burn away again. You get what you deserve, and a torturer gets tortured. You, are going to the worst level of Hell." Squall smirked. "Enjoy." He unloaded the rest of the bullets into the mouth of the wicked man.

He stood up and turned around. He walked over to the front of us. He looked at Miles, then Cass, then me. Everyone else stood behind him except Quistis, who was back at the apartment.

"Irvine, Zell," He ordered. "Get Cass." He looked over at Selphie who seemed to be absolutely sick from everything. "Selphie help Rinoa." He nodded and slowly headed over to me. "Seifer," He said sadly looking at Miles. "Clean him up and carry him out." He no doubt gave the most gruesome job to Seifer. The blonde didn't complain and went about his tasks. I couldn't even watch as he had to pull who-knows-what out of Miles.

"They're handcuffed," Zell called out.

"You're in a room full of fucking tools," Squall hissed.

Zell went and got a buzz saw before going back to Cass. Selphie found the drill and used that on mine. She stuck it in the key hole and they opened within seconds. I looked over to see Zell and Irvine help Cass up because his legs were cut up.

Cass looked at Squall. "You're the leader of the notorious Saints I'm assuming."

Squall was hard to read…when isn't he? "Yes." He answered before smirking. "Bet we aren't notorious to you right now."

Cass managed a sad smile. "You said all your names right now, I know all your names and all your faces."

Everyone froze.

Squall met Cass' gaze. "If you want to turn us in, then go for it."

"Even knowing I could turn on you, you'd still help me get out of here?" Cass arched an eyebrow confused.

"You're a good cop," Squall answered. "You do good work, work you should be fucking proud of." Squall walked up and wrapped arm around his neck and connected his head to Cass'. "I don't want you to stop doing it. I wish everyone was like you."

Squall stepped back and everyone watched what Cass' reaction would be. After what felt like forever he nodded.

"I may be a cop, and supposed to arrest all of you." He paused choosing his words. "But I like respect and loyalty above all else." He looked Squall in the eye. "You're secret is safe with me and I'm indebted to you. If you ever need anything, I'll help you best I can." Cass smirked, "I'm sure having an inside man in the police force could be helpful."

"Oh thank God," Zell sighed. "I thought we were screwed for a second." He readjusted his grip and him and Irvine lead him to the door.

I felt my final handcuffs around my feet break free and I stood up…only to be knocked back down by a huge hug from Selphie.

"Rinny," She cried into me. "We're so sorry. I can't believe we let this happen."

"It's fine." I consoled her…though it wasn't fine. It was far from fine.

There was a loud crashing sound and we realized it was something outside of the door, which meant…someone was out there.

Zell, Cass, and Irvine were just at the doorway when the noise was heard. Zell, with his expert reactions, knew not to even question or think about this warning. He shoved Irvine away and pulled Cass with him to the ground. Just as they fell to the ground, a giant axe slammed into the door frame. What we saw next was shocking.

A giant, literally, a fucking giant stepped into the doorway. He must've been at least seven foot tall and he must've weighed three hundred and fifty pounds. He could barely fit through the door. What was worse was the fact that he was head to toe in armor. It looked like scrap metal just wielded together and stuck on him. It was spray painted and it looked messy. He had an old-school hockey mask on with a metal helmet with spikes. There was practically no gap in the armor, which if we think about the situation. A giant man, with armor that bullets won't work against, and in a small room that we can't really avoid him. Seem like a terrible situation.

Well it gets worse. He left the axe in the door because he didn't need it anymore because, a loud revving noise sounded and then we could hear an engine to a machine run. That machine…was a chainsaw.

"Is this a fucking horror movie or something!" Seifer screamed whipping his handgun out.

Everyone began shooting at him, and it all did nothing. The hockey mask must've been reinforced with metal because that didn't even break. He turned to Zell and Cass on the ground. He took a step at them and Zell got to his knees. He yanked Cass hard and slid him across the ground behind him, closer to the tables at the side of the room. The monster swung his chainsaw down at Zell who rolled away just in time. The giant swung it with one hand, it was incredible.

Zell slid over to Cass and looked back to see the beast about to swing down again. Zell grabbed the nearby table and dragged it over them. The chainsaw collided with the metal table and sparks flew. He lifted it up and bent down to swing it underneath the table. Zell saw it coming and knocked the table down onto its side. The chainsaw slammed into it and Zell kept his feet against it to stop the table from moving. The fucking monster roared and grabbed the table with his free hand. He pulled it away behind him leaving Zell and Cass open once again.

I was already moving before I could even think. I took two big steps, since the room wasn't that big, and planted my foot on the sideways table. I jumped into the air at the giant. I grabbed his head and pulled as hard as I could backwards. I leaned with all my weight and could feel the man coming with me. He wasn't prepared for the sudden top heavy pull and couldn't keep his balance.

Ever see a seven foot tall beast fall over? It's quite the sight, especially when you're under him. I realized he was about to fall on me so I scampered up higher on him so his middle (the heaviest) section wouldn't collapse on me. He still fell on me, hard too,but it was mostly just his head, though one of my legs was stuck under him. I let out a short scream of pain but I didn't have time to worry about if it was crushed or not.

I pulled his head back revealing his neck. "Squall!"

He didn't hesitate, when does he? He grabbed the hatchet by my chair and jumped on top of the giant. He swung the hatchet and buried it into the man's neck. He ripped it out and blood flowed out like a river. It was disgusting. You'd think after everything I'd been though, I wouldn't have to lay underneath giant as his fucking crimson flowed off of him onto me. Not to mention the man was gurgling the blood in his mouth trying to breath. I just closed my eyes knowing it would all be over in a couple seconds. And it was.

"God Squall a fucking hatchet!" I exclaimed. "Why do you continually use gross methods?"

"More of a tomahawk really," He said admiring it.

"I'll tomahawk your face." I retorted childishly before feeling my leg cramping. "Get him off my leg! Get him off my leg! Get him off my leg!" I shouted over and over.

"Oh shit." It took Squall, Seifer, and Irvine to roll this man off me.

We all looked at the giant we just slew lying on his stomach in an awkward dead postion.

"Now we know how you were carried here so quickly," Irvine commented.

I grunted to his comment and I sat up and rested my back against the wall. I let my head hang and breathed deeply. What a fucked up day. I've been pretending to be a police officer for only a week before I got taken. Then all this? What did I really sign up for?

I heard Zell and Irvine lead Cass out the door. Selphie made an inaudible sound and it was her cue that she didn't want to stay in this room anymore. I heard Seifer give her the okay and she hurried out the door. Seifer moved slowly out after her and I knew he was carrying Miles. That just left me and Squall. I knew they all left to give us some privacy.

"Rinoa," Squall soft voice was right in front of me. He lifted my chin gently to look into his eyes.

"Hey Squall?"

"Yes."

I smiled sweetly, cocked my arm back, and punched him square in the face. Not a slap, not even a pulled punch. No, I socked him a good one.

"You fuck-tard!"I shouted. "You continually put me in uncomfortable situations that I am not prepared for and apparently you guys weren't either!" His eyes were wide in shock just watching from the floor on his ass as I scowled him like a child. "I can't believe your audacity to plan such dimwitted attempts at a mission. Yeah, let's have one person get caught and go save her. Does that not sound like a dumb fucking idea, or is that just me!"

He smiled softly. He moved to his knees and reached his hand out but I batted it away.

"You fucking moron, do you know how mad I am at you right now!"

He just reached over again and wiped a tear away….God damn it, when did I start crying again. I was supposed to be mad. I said I was done crying, how come I couldn't stop it. Not to mention my left hand was burning in pain. I couldn't help but reach over and hold it.

I felt Squall bring me into a hug. That's right…Squall Leonhart wrapped me into a hug. I couldn't even process what this meant.

"I know you're mad at me, you have all the right to be." His lips brushed against my ear sending shivers I swear I hadn't had since I was sixteen. Did he know he was doing this? He at least had to know lips against ears were sexual. No other way about it.

"I just want you to know," He continued, "That you won't be put on any missions you don't want for a long while. You have officially proven yourself that you can handle whatever we throw at you." He pulled back from the hug and looked me in the eye. Not the normal stare, or glare, but a genuine look of feeling in his eyes.

"I'm proud of you," He leaned in and kissed my forehead. Then he stood up and held out his hand. I took it with my right and he lifted me up.

I had a little limp but like I'd give a damn about that now. I was on too much of a high from him saying he was proud. I didn't even know I would care so much if he ever said that. I always told myself I don't care what he thinks, but this was different. This was serious and work related. But he was proud, he never said that before. I haven't even heard him say that to anyone else, just me. The feeling those words had, the implications they held, the simple raw power behind them. It was ecstatic, pure ecstasy to hear them. To make Squall proud was hard, and he was genuine about it. He was happy with me…happy…with me. All my worries about still trying to fit in, trying to pull my own weight, trying not to get left behind. This just proves that I didn't need to worry anymore.

Squall was proud…of me and what I do.

Before I knew it I was outside with him and the rest of the group. There were three cars all pulled right up to the door. Selphie and Irvine sat on of the hoods while Zell leaned against another. Cass sat on the ground next to Miles while Seifer stood next to them. We seemed to be near an abandoned pier. They were pretty common around Deling. With worn down warehouses and junk lying around. The building we just came out of was a warehouse that went a couple floors under the ground. Walking out was just as one might expect. Scary ass hallways with grime and trash all over. Just to add to the whole horror movie today felt like.

"What's the plan?" Squall asked Seifer. It was a little surprising at first but I realized it was simply because Squall was down with me. Meaning Seifer was left in charge to handle matters out here.

Seifer smirked holding a canister of gasoline up. "Let's torch it."

Squall nodded. He released my hand and grabbed the gallon of gasoline. "Zell and I will do it." He turned to Cass. "Want a ride somewhere?"

He shook his head. "No, I know that would only cause you more trouble. Just make the call for an ambulance here and I'll be fine."

"You sure?"

He nodded. "And I stand by what I said earlier call me if you ever need anything." He patted his pockets before rolling his eyes. "Right, I'm gonna need a new phone, so uhh-"

Squall smirked, "We'll get in touch with you, don't worry."

"Right, right, of course you will."

"Come on Zell," Squall nodded his head back towards the door. Zell followed after him and they disappeared into the darkness.

I turned back to the rest of the group. "What do we do?"

"We go home, darlin'," Irvine smiled.

I let out a sigh, "finally."

"Let's pack it in," Seifer said. "Selphie take Rinoa. Cowboy, you're with me."

We didn't argue, we all got in the cars and began pulling away. Cass just watched us leave and I truly hoped we would keep the arrangement we had. It would be a tremendous thing to have a cop on the inside…it would make so many things easier.

Our car was in front, and we weren't driving fast. A slow crawl just until we got off the pier. Seifer was driving behind us and was tailgating us, and I knew he wanted Selphie to go faster. I glanced over at the girl. She seemed a little off still, but I didn't say anything. I would have more sympathy but she wasn't exactly the one to go through it all. She just came in the after math.

"Why's there a car parked up there?" Selphie asked snapping me out of my thoughts.

A car parked on an abandoned pier? That was unlikely.

"Gun?"

"Back seat."

I looked back to see a shotgun. I gave Selphie a look, but she was too busy with the car to notice. I grabbed it and faced the front again, she sure liked powerful weapons.

I kept it low, underneath the window, but was ready to pull it up in case. As we drove passed it, very slowly, the door suddenly opened. I instantly reacted and pulled the shotgun up, but I didn't shoot. It was a woman…and she looked terrified. She stepped out of the car only to have an arm grab her wrist and yank her back in. The door shut and we could see a man forcing her down on the seat.

Selphie slammed on the brakes, so fast that Seifer crashed into our back, he was tailgating so I blame him. But no time for that now. I opened my door when I felt the shotgun being taken from my hands. I looked to see Selphie already out of the car with weapon in hand. I quickly jumped out of the car.

She tried the car handle but it was locked, she took no time to swing the butt end into the window shattering it. She unlocked the door from the inside and flew the door open. She grabbed the man who was in a stupor from what was going on. She yanked him out of the car and onto the ground. He rolled over onto his back. Before he even had a chance Selphie slammed the butt into his face. His nose exploded with blood. Selphie jumped on him and straddled him. She repeatedly slammed the butt of the heavy weapon into the man's face.

I was frozen, I never saw Selphie like that. Luckily Seifer was always ready for anything, good thing too. He ran over to Selphie just as the man swung at her. He caught his hand right next to Selphie's face. Everyone froze, Selphie held the gun above the man, who could barely think, and Seifer just held the man's hand that he swung at Selphie…which had a small blade in it.

If Seifer didn't stop the swing, Selphie might've died.

Irvine quickly wrapped his arms around Selphie and pulled her away. Seifer grabbed the shotgun and threw it at me.

"You fucking bitch!" Selphie yelled. "You can't get lucky on your own! Well you got lucky tonight, you're gonna fucking die you shit-bag! You hear me? You're gonna _die_!"

Irvine lifted her off her feet and carried her back to the car Seifer was driving. She was shouting the entire way.

The man groaned trying to pull his arm back from Seifer. When Seifer noticed this he growled. He stood up yanking the blade out of the man's hand. Then he repeated stomped the man in the face, particularly the mouth. I watched as the man's teeth were knocked loose. Seifer didn't hesitate with his next action. In rapid succession he shot him in his left knee, then his right, then his left shoulder, then his right shoulder, then he aimed at his head but didn't shoot yet. Seifer watched as the man began going into shock from the sudden pain and blood loss. It was gruesome and i wasn't allowing it. I shot the main with the shotgun square in the chest. Hitting his heart and every other vital organ he had.

Seifer glared at me and i returned it not backing down at all. We didn't torture or kill slowly, that's not us. We kill because we have to...not because we enjoy it.

I was about to make my way over to the woman but she got out of the car and ran over and hugged Seifer. She was crying, but at least she was still thinking. Usually, rape victims are terrified with an irrational fear of men but she didn't seem to have that.

He wrapped his arms around the woman, and I remember how he was nice to me that first time. "Gasoline is in the trunk, burn this body and the car. The train chick probably got hairs all over the place."

I did as told but made sure my angry look held with his as long as possible. I wanted him to know i wasn't happy with what he just did. As I was doing that Seifer told me he would bring this girl to a police station. That meant I had to ride with Selphie and Irvine. I wasn't sure how that would be, but I wasn't about to be picky. I just wanted to get the fuck home. I lit a match and dropped it causing the car and the body to ignite, as well as the gasoline that spilled around them. I watched the flames burn the evil. His body crackled from the heat.

This night was too crazy.

* * *

I was back at the apartment. The ride back wasn't too bad. Selphie just silently sobered in the back with Irvine as I drove. The normal rule is the person who does the most on the mission doesn't have to drive. I didn't care that the rule was broken tonight, this obviously affected Selphie deeply. I knew it did, and I knew they wanted me to talk to her about it. How'd I know? Because she was in my room cleaning my wounds. That itself wasn't too strange, but they almost made her. She refused but they made up some lame reason for her too, and I didn't argue because I knew right away what they were doing. Though, I really didn't feel like doing this tonight. Honestly my day was already fucked over and I just wanted rest. But that wasn't going to happen until I deal with Selphie.

Might as well start.

"Selphie."

"Hmm?"

"Little aggressive tonight, huh?"

She sighed deeply. "…I guess."

We were both sitting on my bed, with a folded towel underneath my hand. She was currently wrapping it after disinfecting it. I shuddered just thinking about the latter. She didn't look me in the eyes yet, just staring down at the task she was given.

"Personal conflictions I'm guessing?" I asked and she didn't answer. I sighed and lifted her head by placing my hand underneath his chin, forcing her to look me in the eyes. "Selphie, I'm your friend, you can tell me anything."

"You know my mom was raped," Selphie suddenly said forcing her head free from my hand and looking back down. "That's why I'm here, but I know the trouble she went through. The torment, the flinches every time a man touched her. The paranoia she had walking by herself, even in the daylight."

"hmm." I was just going to let her talk it out.

"I hate that people do that to other people." Selphie was speaking more heatedly every word. Not to mention she was getting rougher with my hand, not being so gentle like she usually was. "I've been beaten by guys as well," Selphie admitted, although I already knew that. "It fucking sucks!" She suddenly exclaimed putting a lot of pressure on my hand.

I winced and closed one eye.

"Oh sorry!" She quickly looked me in the eye and I just half smiled. She looked back down and kept wrapping…being a little more careful.

"I just…when I think about it I get so mad. Guys are such assholes, and jerks, and dicks, and trash, and evil, and wicked, and pricks, and fucking-"

"Selphie."I said gently cutting her off. "Is that why you like Irvine, because he is always as nice as can be to women."

Selphie smiled at the mention of her boyfriend's name. "Yeah, I know he's a pervert and a womanizer…but he treats all women good, especially me. I know he'd rather shoot his foot off than raise a hand against me."

"He would never," I reassured her and grabbed her shoulders with my hands forcing her to look into my eye. "Irvine would _never_, you know that."

She smiled, "I know, that's why I love him." She grabbed some scissors and cut the bandages. "All done."

I collapsed back down onto my bed. "Why can't I find a guy?"

Selphie squealed instantly losing her bad mood. She just loved talking about guys with me. She sat cross legged next to me.

"What about Squall?" She asked honestly.

I eyed her, "Squall is…ehh, he's just…"

Selphie sighed and grabbed my hand. "Why don't you just talk to him about it?"

"I try!" I exclaimed. "He just…doesn't talk about stuff like this."

"He's a tough one," Selphie said, "But he's inspiring at the same time."

I rolled my eyes and settled them on the ceiling. "…he said he was proud of me today."

Selphie jumped on top of me and hugged me. "He did!"

"Yeah."

She pulled back, "That's so awesome! Doesn't it feel great for some reason?"

"Yeah…yeah it does." I pushed myself up on my elbows. "Why?"

Selphie shrugged, "Because whether we admit it or not it all seems we're trying to impress him…except Seifer, but he's always different. Squall said he was proud of me twice."

My eyes widened. "You keep count?"

She gave me a pointed look. "How many do you think he gives out, everyone keeps track. It's kinda like a game around here. Irvine's gotten it four times, Quistis twice, like me, Zell once, and Seifer…well like I said before, doesn't get them."

"Zell once?"I repeated. "He does so much."

"Gotta go above and beyond," Selphie winked. "Irvine doesn't get it just with shooting his gun. He gets it when he is put in a spot he's not ready for. Like you tonight, you weren't supposed to be in that spot, and yet you did great. That's when you get them."

"Really?"I put my head back down and thought about it. I'm already tied with Zell. That had a weird feeling. Well, so did Squall saying he was proud of me.

"Hey Rinoa?"

"Hm?"I looked to see Selphie playing with her hands awkwardly. "What is it?"

"You…kinda…inspire me." After she said it, she dove next to me and buried her head into a pillow.

"I what?"I was shocked. Did she really just say that?

"Don't make me say it again," she muffled from the pillow.

I chuckled, "Selphie, why would I ever being inspiring?"

She turned her head to look at me. "Because you're so strong and tough. You put up with all the training here, and you're like one of the guys. Quistis and I couldn't do that stuff, even Irvine can't do some of it. You're like, basically a guy with them. Half the time I walk into the kitchen you're joking with all of them drinking beers and stuff, I'm kinda jealous."

I let out a loud groan. "You're calling me a guy?"

"No," Selphie shook her head and sat up. "Just can handle what they do. I mean, look at your muscles." Selphie than proceeded to lift my tank top and show my stomach. "You have a six pack Rinny, and you _actually_ have biceps when you flex."

I let out an even louder groan. "So I'm just the definition of unattractive." I covered my eyes with a lazy elbow draped across them.

"No!" Selphie quickly said. She stretched a leg over my waist and straddled me. She moved my arm. "You're like _so_ hot, seriously Rinny, don't worry about that."

"Hm thanks," I said sarcastically. "You sure my veins in my wrists aren't showing."

"No seriously Rinny," Selphie pressed. "You're like super attractive too. That's why I'm jealous,you're strong, smart, brave, and sexy. It's unfair."

I chuckled and closed my eyes, "You can't just call me a man and think sexy will get you off the hook."

"Rinoa, I swear when I tell you this. I would so do you." My eyes shot open to see her sitting with her eyes closed looking up….imagining? "It would be so good too, I just know."

"Uh Selphie?"Don't get me wrong, I don't mind same sex couples at all, but now that she was straddling me talking about it…little worrisome.

Her eyes shot open and she looked down at me. "Oh my God, I didn't mean that the way it sounded."

"How else could it sound?"

"Uhh I don't know, but like…I…"

I didn't say anything for a moment and watched as she fumbled over her words. I couldn't take it and instantly began laughing out loud. She smiled seeing me relaxed.

"Selph, are you bi?" I asked and her eyes popped out of her head. "It's fine if you are, I'm just wondering now?"

She quickly shook her head, "No, no I swear."

"Yet you'd do me?" I asked smirking.

She roughed her hair letting out a frustrated groan. "Stop playing mind games and smirking, you're like Squall."

I laughed again, "So…you're straight."

"Yes," She said firmly…yet she wanted to say something else.

I smiled watching her, "But…"

She played with her hair. "But…some high school...uh sleepovers."

I laughed again. "Selphie, relax."

She grabbed my hands that were resting over my head. "I swear, it wasn't anything serious, it's just-"

"You don't have to explain, but I'll accept the compliment that you'd do me and you think I'm hot." I smirked cutting her off.

Before she could answer the door opened and Irvine walked in. Now he saw Selphie straddling me, and better yet, my shirt was still pushed up from when she was showing my stomach. Her grabbing my hands also placed her head over mine. To say this looked questionable was an understatement. We both looked at Irvine as he just stared at us.

"Oh hell yeah!" He cheered whipping his hat and jacket off while stepping closer

"Irvine Keanes!" Selphie exclaimed letting go of my hands. "You get out of this room right now!"

"But honey-"

"No buts!" Selphie declared. "out!"

"This sucks," Irvine grumbled grabbing his duster and hat off the ground. He stormed out of the room.

Selphie looked back atme and I frowned. She smiled, "Well-"

"Selphie, Selphie!"

We both looked to see Irvine back in the room.

"Irvine," Selphie growled.

"I brought Squall!" Irvine cheered happily dragging him into the room.

"What the fuck is going on?" Squall hissed barely able to keep on his feet.

Irvine smiled nodding his head at Squall. Selphie brought a finger up to her lip and looked at me.

"Selphie no," I stated seriously.

"Rin-"

"No!" I shouted.

"I'm kidding," Selphie said.

"Sure you are," I mumbled.

Selphie turned back to Irvine. "Still no dear."

Irvine stamped his foot. "Thanks for nothing Squall." He stormed back out of the room.

Squall watched him leave before turning back to us. "What the fuck is going on?" He repeated.

"Nothing, don't worry," I answered.

He scratched the back of his head looking back at the door, then he looked back at us. His brow tight thinking. "…were we going to have a foursome?"

Selphie nodded excitedly. "You in?"

Squall looked disgusted. "You're gross Selphie, just gross." Selphie frowned but was confused when she saw Squall walk closer. "However, now that Irvine's gone it's back to a threesome, and that, is perfectly okay."

"What is wrong with this place!" I shouted.

Squall laughed and Selphie joined in. Selphie turned to Squall. "Quick, tell everyone Rinoa tried to seduce me."

"Not a problem," Squall smirked before quickly leaving.

"Selphie!"I cried out trying to get up but she collapsed her body onto me. "Uh Selphie?"

"Can I sleep here tonight," Selphie whined. Her head was pressed into my chest. "I know after all that it seems weird, but really I just want to lie here."

I sighed, "You're a crazy girl."

"When I think about what happened to me…you know…involving guys. Even I can't help but feel a little timid of being close to a guy for a bit, and…I just wanna be held so…"

"Selph," I spoke gently wrapping my arms around her. "It's fine, don't worry. You're welcome to spend the night here."

"Thanks."She wrapped her arms around me. "You can be the man tonight." I pinched her. "Hey!"

"You deserved it." I deadpanned.

Selphie just gave me one of her bright smiles and I knew she would be okay. Truth be told I was happy we could hold each other. I didn't exactly want to be alone tonight either. I knew I was going to have nightmares, noway around that. But a person always just feels safer when with someone else, and I was thankful for Selphie being here. Then thinking about it, I wonder if she knew I didn't want to be alone either. Maybe that's why she joked around so much, to keep me from thinking bad thoughts. Maybe that's why Irvine and Squall went along with it. Maybe they all knew I was still terrified and just needed to feel at ease again. Maybe they went out on such a stretch just to make me feel better. Maybe…or…maybe I'm living in a house with sex addicts and should fear for my life.

It was too hard to tell.

* * *

**Squall's POV **

"Are you sure Selphie and Rinoa are in for the night?" I asked.

"Yeah positive," Irvine answered. "Why?"

I leaned against the kitchen counter and crossed my arms. Irvine just took a seat at the table along with Quistis and Zell. Seifer leaned on the other counter that was perpendicular to the one I was on.

I took a breath and pulled something out of my pocket.

"What's that?" Quistis asked leaning forward to get a closer look. It was a little device, no bigger than an inch. It was thin, square, and black. It looked like a black smooth computer chip. One side had visible looking circuits, and the other was sticky, so it could be stuck to something.

I handed it to her. "Zell and I found this on the Cop-Catcher when we went back to burn the place."

"Found it on him…where?" Quistis asked twisting it in every direction to get a good look at it.

"On his wrist," I answered more serious than I've ever been in my entire life. "Right where his pulse would be."

"What's that mean?" Irvine asked looking around at everyone.

"It doesn't take a genius to know something on your pulse spot is to read your pulse." Seifer advised,his brow tight in thought.

"But why?" Irvine asked.

"See this here," Quistis leaned over the table to show everyone. "This little circle spot here, that means it was to send a signal."

"A signal?" I asked.

She nodded. "This wasn't for his own pulse read-out." She looked at me severely. "It was for someone else to read his pulse."

"Okay…what's that mean then?" Irvine inquired.

"It means someone else could read his pulse at all times," Seifer answered.

"No," Quistis shook his head. "I don't know if that's entirely true. This doesn't look like it could give an accurate read-out."

"More." I said, meaning for a bigger explanation.

She sat up in her chair. "Normal pulse readers are to see when someone's pulse quickens or slows. Like a lie detector or when they analyze athletes on a treadmill. Pulse and heartbeat are similar. This isn't the right kind to give an exact number…it looks like it could only answer the question of if there was a pulse or not."

"Okay…now what does that mean?" Irvine asked half smiling.

"Shut the fuck up!" Seifer yelled. "This is seriously shit."

I grabbed Seifer's arm roughly, "Don't you dare be loud enough to bring those two out."

Seifer yanked his arm free and glared.

"Okay, we're all just a little stressed," Zell said trying to ease the tension. "Now, let's ask the main, simple question. Why did he have that attached to his wrist?"

"For someone to watch him?"Quistis answered unsure.

"Easier question first," I declared. "What does a pulse mean?"

"That your heart is beating," Quistis answered.

"Right, now what does not having a pulse mean?"

"That you're dead," Seifer answered this time meeting my eye. He knew exactly what this meant, as well as I did.

"So…whoever was watching this device from afar…would know when the pulse on the Cop-Catcher stopped…correct?" Quistis phrased perfectly.

"Correct," I pinched my nose not liking this one bit. "Which means, they know when the Cop-Catcher died. The question now is-"

"Why would someone want to know when he died?" Irvine chipped in.

"How long was he loose?" I asked.

"Over a month," Seifer answered.

"And if he had that on all the time, day in, day out..." I trailed off.

"Someone was waiting for him to die," Zell narrowed his eyes thinking. "They…were watching for over a month, to see when he would die."

"Now why would someone do that?" Quistis questioned.

"Because," I growled, "When someone does atrocious deeds, who kills them."

Quistis gasped covering her mouth. "We do…they were watching to see when he'd die, because that meant we did it."

I nodded solemnly making sure to look around and catch everyone in the eye. "Someone knows we struck tonight, they know we just killed someone. They know who, when, where, why, and how. They have it all, expect our personal identities. Let's just pray they weren't watching."

"It wasn't that bright of a night," Irvine suggested. "They had to be in a building further away and wouldn't get a clear picture of us."

"That's true," I had to agree to that. "Also, they didn't know before when we'd strike. So there is a chance they didn't have camera's set up. However, we will not base anything on conjecture. We won't think they did get a picture of us, and we won't think that they didn't get a picture of us."

"Now maybe I'm being optimistic," Irvine started rested his folded hands on the table. "But they just know we killed someone and when. A lot of people know it was us who kill people and when."

"This was different," I argued. "The Cop-Catcher was bait, and even he knew it. Now what will the person or people who have the signal that the Cop-Catcher died do?"

"They will look to why he died when he did," Seifer answered staying right with me. "They will look at the last two cops who were taken."

"Which are Cass and Miles," Zell spoke quietly.

"Now, why did we save those two?" I snarled.

"Because of Rinoa," Quistis was barely able to say.

"Yes, Rinoa, and why did she want to save them? Because she had a personal fucking correlation with them!"I shouted slamming my fist on the table. "We are to try as hard as possible to keep our emotions out of this and when they get involved. We don't let the public or anyone have any possibly way of knowing that it was personal."

"They might not know," Irvine hoped.

"We didn't go after him for over a month and then suddenly we do. Even if it was a little random, a very smart and very lucky person would be able to look at Cass and Miles. Maybe connect it back to something else."

"That's a stretch," Seifer stated. "I know you're covering all possibilities, but that's a real stretch. Miles and Cass did many of our cases, they won't be able to pick out the one that involved Rinoa."

"Oh yeah?"I said happily, and everyone brightened up. "You sure?"And everyone realized I was being sarcastic and instantly deflated. "I mean, it _wasn't_ like just a little bit after we killed Caraway that a new member _didn't_ suddenly fucking appear at the same moment his daughter suddenly took a random fucking vacation."

"It's conjecture," Seifer growled.

"This isn't the police, we know that. That means they can go off conjecture." I argued. "And better yet, they know Cass and Miles were on most of our cases. That makes it almost all the more believable _we _have a personal relationship with them. Even if that is false, if they follow that lead, and look into Cass and Miles reports…they could find another relating factor."

"Okay, okay," Quistis urged. "This is getting too far, we have no idea what is really happening. This device might have just been nothing at all, we don't know. Let's say someone did know we struck tonight, they can look all they want, it will still be hard to find anything on us. Before we all get upset and worried, let's just wait and see, because we don't know anything."

And that was the truth. We didn't know anything…and it terrified us.

* * *

…**..POV?**

"Where are you?" the voice shouted on the other end of the phone. "We've followed your plan long enough and you bring no results. Don't let me remind you of our agreement."

I smirked and let out a slow puff of a cigarette. Like I cared about any agreement. "Don't worry, I'm on top of it."

"We don't think you are!" The man shouted. "I want to know what your plan is."

"And I told you, I'm not telling you."

"I don't give a shit. I want answers. I want to know why you spoke with Giovanni by himself for two hours, in a room, with no cameras, no recorders, no mirrors, nothing. I want to know what you said to him!"

I chuckled, "I'm telling you jackshit."

"That's it, you're done!"

"No I'm not," I spoke calmly. "You need me, without me, you're in deep shit."

"Then answer my fucking questions."

"Let me remind you of something," I sneered. "You, in your infinite wisdom, gave me this task. Then you made the mistake of having people follow me to see if I was doing this task, now they are dead. Now, you have absolutely no idea where I am, and you are also pissing me off. Which means, if you keep at it, I'll kill you too. You may have thought I'd follow your orders, but again, your infinite wisdom is as infinite as your sex life…which doesn't exist. You don't even have this number, I called you because I'm a nice guy."

There was a deep breath on the other end. "Okay…I just would like to be kept up to date."

I put my cigarette out on the wooden table next to me. "Fine, you want answers, I'll give you fucking answers." I paused and lit another cigarette. I really didn't give a shit if he knew what I was doing or not. If it got him to stop whining then I'd give him enough to shut him up.

"You want to know what I said to that crazy little fucker Giovanni. I told him to keep the pulse-patch on for the rest of his short life. If he ever took it off and put it back on, I'd personally use every tool he had on his own body." I took a deep breath letting the smoke fill my lungs. It truly was a great feeling. "We all know I'm much better at causing pain than he is."

"That's it?" The man was shocked. "That's all you told him, that's all the extra advice and supplies you gave him. What does that have to do with anything!"

I chuckled again, he sure gets riled up easily. "Relax, will ya. I told him how to do everything, I found the giant brute to help capture the cops. I told him to capture cops, I told him where, and how. Everything he did was because I told him to. Gotta be honest, that little pussy knew how to follow orders."

"Will you be serious!" The man screamed in his little rage like a kid. He didn't like people usurping his authority. I rather don't give a shit about him, so he can rant and rave all he wants.

"So you don't want to know about this little device I have in my hand?"

"…what?"

"You know, this little device in my hand," I held it up so I could see it better and smiled. "The little device that lights up red when Giovanni's pulse stops."

"…what about it?"

I took a deep drag and smiled letting the smoke seep through my teeth and inhaled it back into my nose. "Well my sweet pumpkin pie…its red."

* * *

**Finally, the real plot starts going. The next chapter really kicks it off even more. Now just a matter of not taking half a year to update.**


	17. Crimson

**February 28****th**

**Cass' POV**

"Just back here, detective."

I followed the young policeman into the alleyway. The usual people at crime scenes were there. I recognized most faces, but not all. There seemed to be someone who was really young and by the look on his face i think this might have been his first crime scene. The photographer looked a little old compared to the usual crime scene investigators. His hair was grey and he moved slowly. He must've just gotten done with the scene since he was on his way out. I wondered if i'd be on the force that long. So long that they'd reduce me to taking pictures and nothing else. I felt sorry for him a little bit, but i knew i was going to feel even more remorse for the victim i was about to see.

There had been a string of continual murders this past week. This would mark the forth if the victim was killed the same way. After the Saints saved me, I was planning on sitting around to heal, but I was restless. I had a severe limp, but luckily that madman didn't break any of my bones. I certainly wasn't going to chase down any criminals, but I could see the crime scene and offer my thoughts. The current case I was working on was gruesome, and truthfully, if the victim I was about to see happened to be killed in the same way. Then…I would call Leonhart.

Our relationship was purely professional. We never spoke or saw each other unless there was something important. Sure, me being saved by them and all aroused suspicion. People thought I was implanted by them but it was proven incorrect, because, it was incorrect. I wanted them bad originally, but now, well…I can see that some men do need to be killed. Jail won't fix them, and arresting them is too dangerous. That's when I call Leonhart. He doesn't do it automatically, of course. He's turned me down before too. But usually, if there is a good reason, and I'm not making progress. I'd call him.

I didn't particularly like to call him for a couple reasons. The obvious, because it was dangerous for us to be in contact. The less obvious but definitely more important…it was upsetting that he could find people I couldn't. Granted, he admitted to having shadowed connections that help him out, I guess that's how they found that Quack Doctor. I don't really know how they do shit, and it's better that way. The less I know the better, and sometime I wonder if I even wanna know how they get their 'work' done. The group is still a complete mystery to me, but again, it's probably better that way.

"Here it is." The young man pointed to the half naked woman.

She was extremely young, looked to be early twenties, maybe even only twenty. Her hair was cut short so it would barely touch her shoulders, and some of it hung over her face messily. It was a light red and her eyes were a deep brown. Her nose was petite matching the rest of her small body. She was on the skinny side, and nothing too special about her. She was pretty, but her breasts were small and her hips weren't eccentric. Just a normal girl, like all the others.

The body was lying on the ground. The coat was open with the shirt ripped apart. Her bra was unhooked and left sitting on her crunched stomach, exposing her chest openly. Her jeans and panties were pulled down and left hung around the right ankle. Her legs were left spread wide revealing everything. Her eyes were open, staring in fear, and her hands were draped lazily to the sides. Then, there was the one bullet hole in the center of her forehead. A small stream of blood ran down the front of her face. Little crimson droplets would fall every couple of seconds in rhythm from her chin. There was nothing peaceful about this. She wasn't laid to rest, she was raped and murdered.

"So what do you think?" Someone asked.

"Just like the others," I replied.

"How do you know?"

I knelt down, which caused extreme pain so I quickly stood back up. "Well…as you can see, she was raped and murdered…however, not in that order."

"What!" The boy gasped.

I sighed, "There are sick people in this world. You don't see any markings on her besides the bullet hole. Which means, there wasn't a struggle. Now maybe she was a prostitute, but based off the Hello Kitty T-shirt, I'm gonna assume that's not the case. So, the only way is if she was willing to have sex, which would mean she knew the raper. But...the way her body is, makes it seem that the raper didn't know or care about her at all. Meaning, he just found her, and raped her, but since she didn't struggle…she was probably killed and then raped. The bra is unhooked as well. If she was fighting he wouldn't take the time to unhook it, he would most likely just pull it down or rip it. Then again, we won't know for sure until the lab gets back with the analysis of corpse."

"That's…that's disgusting."

I shrugged, "There are disgusting people. This matches right up with the other ones." I began walking away. "I have to make a call. And for God sakes cover the body up, give her some decency."

I walked back out of the alleyway. There were a bunch of other police men and women going about the tasks. Keeping citizens away, putting the tape up, taking pictures, questioning the person who found the poor girl. I ignored it and pulled my phone out.

I put in a memorized number for a text.

_Let's meet at the normal place. _

I put the phone in my left jacket pocket and pulled out some cigarettes. The sun was just beginning to rise. I watched as the early morning workers were strolling down in a tired pace to their jobs they probably hated. I lit my cigarette and inhaled. It warmed me in the cold morning. Fuck winter, seriously it carries on too long. Though, I did find my knees and legs felt better in the cold weather. I hoped they'd heal by the time it turned warm, if not, things could be very uncomfortable. Maybe I'd get some good pills or something, who knows. All I know is I wish Leonhart would fucking answer me.

I felt my phone vibrate in my right jacket pocket and withdrew it. I flipped the phone open to read the text.

_Today at six and wake me up again I'll fucking shoot you_

I smirked and put the phone back in my pocket.

That jackass.

* * *

**Squall's POV**

"Loaded or unloaded?" I asked.

Rinoa picked the handgun up and attempted to weigh it in her hand. She was blindfolded and we were both sitting at the kitchen table. I had laid out all types of handguns on the table along with their counterpart ammo boxes. I would hand her a gun, and she'd have to tell me if it had ammo in it or not. As she would think, I'd prepare the next gun by loading, or unloading it. It was a pretty basic drill, but it could be extremely helpful to know if a gun has ammo in it or not just by the weight. In a firefight if you pick up a gun, it would be a pain to check the amount of ammo in it. Rinoa has been trained to know many different types of basic handguns that she will most likely come across. If she can tell the weight difference between a loaded one, and an empty one, then it is possible she can estimate how much ammo a gun may have without looking.

That isn't to say it's perfect. To be able to tell down to the single bullet is almost impossible. A bullet doesn't weigh enough against the gun to truly determine that. Multiple bullets do however, and thus why it is important to at least understand that a little.

"Loaded." She finally answered setting the weapon back on the table.

"Good." I pulled the weapon away and placed another in front of her.

She picked it up and frowned. "A six shooter? I can see the bullets in this one in a second."

"Well imagine if you didn't have too," I retorted.

"Then I could have another second in my life," she deadpanned.

"Just fucking answer."

"Whatever makes you happy hun."She chimed cutely to piss me off.

I grimaced. Things were definitely getting worse between us, even I could see it. It took only a matter of minutes for our bickering to turn into fierce heated words. She just bugged me now, and it wasn't my fault. She was always being fucking pissy about something. I could walk into the room and she'd just have a retort directed at me. I wouldn't even bring it on, so it sure as hell wasn't my fault. I was as nice as could be.

"Loaded."

"Wrong you fucking dumbass, you should shoot yourself since you suck so much."

Okay…maybe I egged her on sometimes.

"Did you get back doored again last night, that always puts you in a grumpy mood."

"Says the one who could barely walk last Sunday morning when you came back from your little walk of shame."

"Unrelated you dick, I slipped on some ice."

"Dick on the mind is it?"I chuckled.

"You're just fucking jealous because at least I can get some."

I laughed loudly because I knew it angered her when I did an obnoxious sarcastic laugh. "You think I can't get pussy. I'll have you know, said last Saturday, I fucked a skanky girl on your bed. Seriously, you might get something just by sleeping in that same bed."

This entire time, she never took the blindfold off and I had to give her credit. I told her to keep it on until this drill was over and she wasn't breaking that. Which proved that she would always listen to me no matter what, at least on missions. Because as soon as it wasn't important we were at each other's throats again.

"I know that's a lie, you think I don't know why you take those crazy long showers."

"And _what_ are you implying?" I hissed.

She smiled and shrugged, "It's okay, I know when guys go through puberty they like to explore."

"Oh is that so? I'm not the one who's left her vibrator just lying on her nightstand."

Her jar dropped. That's right, she didn't know I saw that.

"You went in my fucking room." She growled.

"It was for a second to talk to you, not my fault you left it in plain sight. I know you need it every five minutes so you need it within reach at all times. Oh speaking of which, isn't it about time you go at it. I know how grouchy you get. Please, and don't think about me, because I don't want that happening."

She laughed loudly and I grinded my teeth. Seriously, sarcastic laughter just pisses people off, even me. "Think of you? Please, you're the one who can't have sex because you can't stop thinking about me."

She did not just say that.

I leaned forward even though she couldn't see me. "Are you trying to tie this back into some sexual tension or some shit you made up?"

"I didn't make anything up," She crossed her arms and leaned forward, "you're being pretty stubborn and ignorant if you still can't see it."

"There's nothing to see."

"I don't even have to see your face to know you're looking at my cleavage right now since I leaned over the table."

What the fuck…can see she through that thing.

"As if."

"_As if."_ She whined, "What are you, a high school girl."

"Says the one repeating words like a child."

She uncrossed her arms and placed them on the table. She leaned over it even more, still blindfolded but that didn't seem to bother her. "Just admit it Squall, you want me so bad you can't even sleep without a change of boxers."

"Ha, that's funny. I know for a fact I could fuck you right now and it wouldn't even matter."

"What?" She scoffed. "You would finish in like a minute because you'd be so excited to finally get me."

"I'd last _way _longer than you would," I dared.

"Is that a challenge?" She met my serious tone.

"Yeah maybe it is," I said.

"Then I'm about to prove you wrong."

I stood up and so did she. I yanked the shirt off over my head and stood bare chest. She heard it, and her audible senses were greatly improving because she knew exactly what it was. She took off her tank top and stood in her bra. She was facing towards me but the blindfold was still on. For a moment I was thinking about leaving it on…but then I decided I didn't actually want to do that.

I whipped the blindfold off her, "There is no way you're going to outlast me."

Her bangs danced over her eyes which gleamed with an aura of competition as her lips formed a sinful smirk. "Come and see."

I hurried around the table and threw a chair out of my way for no reason in particular. It clanged against the floor loudly but was completely disregarded. I marched right up to her who just stood waiting. My right hand swiftly attached itself to the side of her head. My palm pressed right behind her upper jaw bone on her neck, with my thumb going up behind her ear. My fingers wrapped around and touched the back of her head. I forced her head stiff and mine moved in slowly. I unhooked her bra with my other free hand while her hands pressed against my chest. Our eyes never broke contact since she took the blindfold off.

There was something drawing me in about them. Not in some cheesy romantic way. If anything, it was this challenging, daring look she sometimes got. She'd get it when we were having a shooting contest, or who could do more pull-ups. It was simple things like that….and they drove me crazy. I don't know why, but I always had to prove her wrong, or one up her.

"You already pussying out?"She taunted.

My response was my lips crashing hard on hers. Do not misunderstand. This wasn't some romantic passionate kissing. This was sloppy tonguing, with hard pressing. She bit my lip painfully and I'm embarrassed and a little creeped out by how much I enjoyed it. I pushed her body back until we hit the back of the couch. She leaned against it as her hands ran through my hair. I kept my left hand behind her back while my right found her breasts. I didn't tease them gently or playfully like a romance novel. I squeezed them roughly. She didn't seem to mind by the gasp that escaped her lips as she tiled her head back. I attacked her neck. I was gonna give her the biggest fucking hicky, something she wouldn't be able to hide. She'd walk around in public and people would know what it was.

I stopped when she bit my ear and pulled.

"Stop biting." I growled.

"Make me," She teased into my ear before biting it again and tugging on my hair hard.

I pushed her over the back of the couch. She fell onto it and I tumbled over after. Our tongues went back to battling. She shoved her hand down into my pants and began going to work. I got up on my knees over her and gripped the waistline of her sweatpants. I ripped them off until they hit my knees. I put my arms down and got off her enough for her to kick them the rest of the way off. She took her hand from out of my boxers and pulled my pants down. I kicked them off as well. As soon as they were she already pulled my boxers down, so I kicked those off as well.

"God your already so hard, this is gonna be too easy," she smirked.

I growled as I pulled her panties down to her knees. We repeated the same procedure where I lifted myself off enough for her to kick them off.

I didn't say anything romantic. I didn't see her body for all its beauty and suddenly fall in love with her. I didn't imagine my future with her. I didn't gaze into her eyes and be lost in love. None of that cliché romanticism happened. What happened is…I took my dick, and I shoved it in her.

I stayed on my knees so I was perpendicular to her. I began thrusting repeatedly into her and she caught my rhythm quickly and matched it. Her eyes closed and her head tipped back, then to the side, then back at me with her eyes opened again. Her hands gripped the couch armrest behind her. She lifted her right leg a bit and I grabbed it. I hoisted it above my shoulder, and I stretched my right leg so my foot was on the floor. With this I was able to thrust deeper. Her moans got more distinguished and I found myself begin grunting slightly. I started kissing her ankle, I don't know why, I don't have a fucking foot-fetish, but during sex, anything that was put near my mouth I'd kiss. She was grabbing her breasts, rubbing, and massaging them. I could feel things heating up between us, but the last thing I wanted her to think was that I wanted to do this simply to do it. Because I was only doing this for the challenge and to prove I could and have no attachment.

"You're totally gonna finish already." I taunted.

This snapped her mind back into reality. She took her leg off my shoulder and placed it on my chest. She kicked me backwards so I fell onto my back. Before I could recover she hoped up on top of me. She put me back inside her and began riding me. My mind instantly went blank as my head tipped back. Fuck, she was good. That I couldn't deny. It didn't help I preferred the girls on top, and this was my favorite sex position. This way I could see their entire body and it just felt better for some reason. My hands found her chest again now finding the current situation fully enjoyable. She kept one hand on the couch to help balance and her other one kept moving the hair out of her face because it constantly fell in front of her eyes.

"My, my Squally, someone's surely enjoying this. You sure you haven't been dreaming of this moment."

"You wish, look how hard you're working for it right now." I jeered back.

Truthfully, I was fully enjoying this, and not just in the way where a person always enjoys sex. I could felt a familiar feeling of accomplishing something I've been longing for. For example, when I passed the police academy, or finally came to Galbadia. It was this successful feeling I was having now as well. And I realized – to my horror I might add – she was right. I have been thinking about this for a while. I refused to admit it before but now that this was happening, I can remember checking her outfits out every day. How she would style her hair, or the way she would act in certain situations. I didn't do that with anyone else in the house. I kept telling myself it was because she was new, but now I realize there was a little more too it.

Am I admitting I love her? No, not even close. I'm admitting there was sexual tension and I wanted to fuck her. Because, she is hot, that was never a question and even more so now that she has been training for so long. Every week it is possible to see a slight difference in her body and appearance. We have to keep increasing her workouts as well, which is all the more proof.

Now, the only reason why I'm thinking about all this now is simple. I was taking my mind off the sex for a while to make sure I wouldn't finish before she did. Because now that I am fucking her, there was absolutely no way I was going to lose.

I could see she was starting to get a little tired but thanks to all her training, her stamina was amazing.

I found the right time and shoved her off me. I got back onto my knees, but didn't crawl over to her. I grabbed her legs and dragged her roughly over to me. Her face held a mixture of shock and dangerous pleasure as I dragged her the short distance on the couch. I put her legs around my sides. I moved even closer so her waist, which was slightly elevated against me. I put myself back inside finding it extremely hard not to be in her for even the slightest second. I started my rhythm again hoping I was doing this one right. This position was a little trickier but if I paid off she would definitely orgasm first.

"Wait, S-Squall, Squall w-w-wait, wait, j-just…wait." She struggled to find her words as her arms gripped anything they could find. Her head tipped far back, eyes shut tightly, and her mind beginning to go blank.

"That's right baby," I smirked, "That's your G-spot."

"Oh my god, oh my…" She was already losing her words.

I could easily ride it out like this and definitely win but why not just add a little more pressure…figuratively and literally. I amuse myself.

I placed my hand on her lower abdominal and pressed down very gently. I kept going until she reacted strongly. She was taking deep breaths now trying to stay in the game I imagined. It wouldn't matter, the technique I was using now was unstoppable. I've never had a girl not orgasm like crazy to it. I could see her head pressing strongly into the couch as she was slowly losing it.

"You're losing Rinoa, face it, you can't take me." I taunted one last time.

She only moaned in response which caused me to smile more. It was always a good self confidence boost to know you were good at sex. In a couple more seconds I bet she'll be done.

"Oh my God!"

My head snapped up to see Quistis standing in the hallway that leads to the door. She had a bunch of bags in her hand which meant she returned from shopping…which also meant…so did Seifer. I instantly stopped what I was doing. Rinoa didn't, she grinded her hips into me begging for me to continue.

"Don't stop, God don't stop, please." She begged me.

Did she not fucking hear Quistis? Was she really that far gone?

Seifer quickly rushed up to her to see what was wrong that would make Quistis shout like that. Our eyes connected and all hell broke loose.

"Oh God! Oh God!"He shouted louder than Quistis first did. "Holy fuck!"

This snapped Rinoa out of her ecstasy. She turned her head to see the couple that just walked in.

Seifer, being the overly dramatic person he was, began thrashing around. His arms were flailing and his eyes were closed. So much so he knocked Quistis over onto the floor.

"Seifer!" She exclaimed from the ground.

"I can't see!" Seifer cried out. "Oh god, so hideous I can't see! I'm blind!"

I got off Rinoa and quickly found my pants. She did the same but had to go back to the kitchen to find her shirt.

Seifer fell to the ground, still thrashing about like a fish on dry land. He continued to cry out over and over. "Quistis, Quistis where are you, I can't see."

"Seifer stop!" She screamed as he began climbing over her. "Seifer knock it- what are you doing! Get out of my shit!"

"I need to see boobs to regain my vision!" He exclaimed. "It's the only way, Quistis please, help me, I'm traumatized."

"Seifer-"

"Quistis," Seifer whined curling up into the feeble position. "Quistis…oh god…it was…it was awful…he was on top of her…like…like he thought he knew what he was doing…but he doesn't…oh God he just doesn't know…"

I jumped over the couch into the kitchen. I grabbed a gun. "I'm gonna shoot him."

"Squall," Rinoa hissed grabbing it from me.

"Oh God, why…why did this happen to me?" Seifer pleaded to the heavens. "Quistis…it…I can't explain…it was…so small…so tiny…I didn't know they could be so small."

"I got five inches on you buddy," I shouted.

"Oh yeah?" Seifer hopped up to his feet.

"Yeah, you're like a tooth pick."

"I'll whip my dick out right now," Seifer threatened.

"You wanna go," I said.

"Let's fucking go," Seifer began undoing his belt.

"Stop!"Rinoa shouted. "Everyone…just relax." Rinoa turned to Quistis. "Why weren't you stopping him?

Quistis had a finger up to her lip and quickly dropped it.

I smirked. "As usual Seifer your girlfriend wants me."

He scoffed, "She wants us together because she's perverted like that."

"Seifer!"Quistis cried out.

"It's true," Seifer shrugged.

"Help me up," She demanded.

The blonde did as told and was smiling the whole time.

"Now," Quistis started when she got to her feet. "What is the one rule in this house?"

"Uhh I don't know." Rinoa answered.

"I know you don't, but Squall does because he made it up."

Everyone looked at me. I sighed, "No sex on the couch."

"Really?"Rinoa asked.

"Yes really, so we don't have this incident," Quistis told us. "Now…as glad as I am you too are together-"

"We aren't," Rinoa and I said in unison.

Seifer let out a long whistle. "You just made the awkward relationship between you two increase tenfold."

"It was a competition," Rinoa told them crossing her arms and looking away.

"Oh?" Quistis smiled slightly finding that funny. "What about?"

"Who would finish first," she replied.

Seifer snorted, "And I thought some of my excuses were bad."

"It's the truth," I told them strongly.

"Who was gonna win?" Seifer asked intrigued.

"I was," I smirked.

"What? No way, girls can hold so much longer than guys," Seifer retorted.

"They can orgasm but just recover faster or continue on past them, once a guy finishes he's done, so to the first climax it's fair game," I explained to all.

"Anyways," Quistis closed her eyes as if not wanting to think about what I just said. "Do we need to have a talk?"

"You aren't my fucking mom," I crossed my arms.

Quistis shared a glance with Seifer. "Am I not? I thought I was the 'motherly one' in this group."

Seifer shrugged, "I thought so."

"Not the point," I growled.

Quistis sighed. "I still feel this should be discussed."

"Look, we had sex it doesn't mean anything more."

Quistis' eyes were wide. "I was talking about having sex on the couch."

"Oh."

"You're quite worried about it meaning something, aren't you puberty boy," Seifer smirked.

"Fuck you."

"Aren't you a little tired from your last fuck."

"This is getting old real fast," I grinded my teeth.

I heard Rinoa laugh to my side.

"Yeah this is real fucking funny," I spat at her.

"Relax, will you," she told me like this wasn't a big deal. "They caught us having sex, it's embarrassing but we aren't twelve. And I knew we would eventually, sexual tension never fails."

"Whatever."

"Wow you are really embarrassed aren't you?" She giggled. She hopped up closer to me to get a better look at my face. "Is it simply 'cause they saw us having sex or is it 'cause you made the mistake of revealing you felt something more."

"I didn't."

She didn't stop smiling.

"Get the fuck away from me." I shoved her away and made my way to my room.

"It's not a big deal, Squall," Quistis told me.

"You're right, I don't care, I gotta go meet Cass."

With those final words I shut the door to my room and began preparing for the meeting. It was just passed four o'clock so I had time, but we always both showed up early. It was a cop and preparation thing. So time wasn't the issue. The issue was that I fucked Rinoa…well, not exactly. The real issue was I didn't finish fucking her, which meant…

…blue-balls.

Fuck.

* * *

I was standing across the street from our usual meeting spot. It was a little outdoor café. It was styled after a shop that one could find in Balamb or Esthar. Inside was where all the food was served and there were tables in there as well. But it was known for its small outdoor tables which were separated from the sidewalk by a waist high white fence. This was one of the main shopping streets in Deling, which made it a perfect place for the store. It wasn't a main street for driving, rather small in fact. Since it only had two lanes on both sides of the dividing line. So sitting at the tables gave you a great place to people watch without all the loud noise of a lot of cars. There were still cars, but just compared to the rest of the city it was far less. It was really quite enjoyable; it reminded me of the type of places back home in Balamb. But this wasn't the time to think of that.

There were people still sitting outside even though it was February. To be fair, it was warmer than normal, even if only a little. Most of the snow dried up but that didn't mean it was over. Deling had a bad habit of winter's dragging on. But as of right now, the snow was gone and it was close to fifty degrees. If it was up to me I would never sit outside now but hey, I'm not everyone…obviously.

I could see Cass already sitting and drinking some coffee. He was reading a newspaper…like always. That was what we planned. He wasn't supposed to look like he was waiting for someone. He was simply supposed to look like he came here to drink coffee and read the paper. Apparently that was something he normally did, so it fit if he ever told anybody. He had on a thick trench coat but it was unzipped and hung down. I was wearing dark jeans and then a black pull-over hoodie. The hood was up, of course, and my hands in the one large center pocket. My hands were also in skin tight black gloves, just that over preparation I have a bad habit of doing. I leaned on the large window wall of a clothing store behind me. I was blending in pretty well, nothing too suspicious, many kids walk around like this and to many I was still a kid. So it worked well.

I could see Cass' legs straight underneath the table and I knew it still hurt a little to bend them probably. He was pretty fucked up from that quack doctor but he took it well. He didn't let it get him down or freak out too much. Besides the usual mourning for his partner, he got right back on track which is great. In fact, we came out really well for that situation. Finally got an inside man in the police and a respectable one at that.

There was only one problem about that whole mad scientist. The pulse reader. That still weighed in the back of my mind, but nothing ever happened. We were extremely careful after that but there wasn't even the slightest sign of anything happening. We didn't exactly forget it, but we just put it in the back of our minds for now. We had other things to worry about, I had other things to worry about like, for example, these fucking blue-balls. Holy hell, I swear to God I will get her for this. Pregnancy my ass, women don't understand this.

I totally was going to get Rinoa back. I'd fucking chuck her vibrator into the sea. Then to make sure I'll steal every other women sex toy in the house, which only God knows how many I'll actually find, and I'll get rid of all them too. Then, I'll get Quistis to hack into the bank and freeze all her accounts. After that, I will make sure the TV is only ever playing porn so even she gets hot and bothered. She'll have to use her own hand but I'll change her workouts so her arms are too tired but her body itself won't be. Yeah, that's good, she'll be dying after that.

Maybe a smoke would help me ease my mind a bit. I took my pack out and withdrew a smoke. I stuck it in my mouth as I searched for me lighter. I couldn't find it and it was starting to piss me off. I hope I didn't leave it at home.

Suddenly a lighter was thrust in front of me and lit. I slowly leaned forward and lit my cigarette, then leaned back, but kept my head down. Someone was leaning next to me now, I couldn't see them because of my hood but I knew they were there.

Fuck. That little lighter means more what most people originally think it does.

The succeeding consequences after the smallest actions can often multiple every second following it.

It was really a simple action, extremely simple in fact, but what it means, what just happened, could be more trouble than I could ever imagine. Looking at it in a general stand point of human manners. First, you ask if the person needs a light, you don't just give them one. Second, you wouldn't just give a light to some guy that has only been looking for his lighter for _less_ than _five _seconds. Third, after the guy who can't find his lighter looks for a while, he'll usually ask others. This whole situation…is wrong. I know it seems I'm being paranoid, but when you are trying to blend and meet a cop. Then someone gives you a light without the proper steps…it's worrisome.

"My God, you are good."

It was a man next to me, his voice was deep and strong. It sounded like it had a little age to it, at least over thirty.

I didn't respond. I don't know what he meant.

"My little generosity of lighting your cigarette has got your mind cranking so hard, damn, you're either a paranoid little fucker or really something else."

What the fuck. Who is this guy? How can he make an assumption like that? And now that he has made that assumption, I know that he is more than just a good person giving me a light. He was seeking me out…but why? Why would someone be looking for me, I mean, I know everyone's looking for me, but not me as a person, but me as an _idea_. How the fuck did he pick me out? Is this a coincidence? Maybe I'm not the right person he's looking for. It's possible that maybe this is just some drug dealers spot. But then…why would he know that I was worrying about him giving me a light. Most people if got a light would look and thank the person, even if they found the action weird, they'd brush it off. I didn't brush it off because I know better, but…since I didn't brush it off…he knew I was _me_. Me, as in someone that is trying to be secretive. If he gave me the light and I just thanked him and walked away, maybe he would've thought I was a normal person? But since I didn't react normally, I reacted professionally…he knows…he fucking knows. I don't know what he knows, but he knows something.

I heard him chuckle. "You know, I'll explain some things, because I can tell you're trying to work this all out. Which, does in fact prove you are who I was looking for, but I think you've already realized that mistake."

I did, I know I did. This is serious shit. I need to get out of here. I began calculating the number of routes I could take. I could dash through this store and find the back door. It would get me a head start,I could call for help too maybe. If I make a scene Cass will take notice and he will stop this man for me, at least he'll see his face. Because I haven't yet, I'm keeping mine hidden. I could also shoot him, I know I could get away if I did it quick enough, the problem was. I didn't know if he was a cop just trying to be a badass, maybe he was good and I couldn't shoot him. God, there are too many variables, this is too dangerous. I need to get out of here.

"Okay, let's start with a few things. I'm not your friend, in fact, I'm here to kill you."

_What the fuck!_ Is he serious?

He chuckled, "Not now of course, this is just the introduction. See, I wouldn't say I'm evil because that's up for debate. People think you're evil, and yet…you kind of aren't. That's like me, I've done wicked things but for good reasons. I've never just shot someone for no reason, I mean, I'm not cruel. If he changes lanes without a turning signal I might run him off the road, but hell he deserved it."

There's no way this is seriously happening right now. It's not possible that I've been compromised. No…I can't believe it.

"What I'm saying is – to clear up one of your many questions in your head – is that you can shoot me because, by your definition, I am very sinful."

Is he crazy? Why would he say that, because I'm not gonna wait then.

"But-"

I cut him off by jabbing my left elbow into his gut, or lack thereof. My first impression was his ripped stomach muscle, which meant he was trained. During my jab I simultaneously pulled out my gun that was stuffed in the back of my pants. I reached across my chest keeping the gun close to me and aimed for his body. Not looking the entire time.

I felt his hand grab the gun and aim it out to the street. I raised my left arm ready to strike where I thought his neck was. I swung but he caught it, which surprised me. I turned to him because not looking wasn't going to work long. I swung my leg at his, but he turned so his thigh took the hit. He twisted my arm with the gun in – what I can only describe – as the perfect way. Perfect as in, immense pain shot through my arm and I was forced to drop the gun. I swung my left arm around and caught it. Before I could even grip it correctly I felt his hand grab my left elbow. Using a combination of his left hand and his right elbow, he bent my left arm down, which pointed the gun at the ground. Also, he never let go of my right hand, meaning, since his elbow was down, my hand was left upwards in an awkward position. I attempted to knee him but he raised his own and blocked it. This was ridiculous, no _fucking _ridiculous. Pinning me with an elbow and one hand? Who the fuck is he?

I finally looked up and was met with his face. He was old, not really old, but in his forties, possibly fifties even. He had long graying hair that was tied in the back. He was taller than me, about as tall as Irvine _but _was built like Seifer. This guy was not one to mess with, and I usually could only take guys his size because they were inexperienced. But he just proved he can handle himself. He had me stuck in this position, staring at his face. He was clean shaven with a strong chin. His nose looked to have been broken more or once since it was rather odd shaped. His thick eyebrows were grey as well. His eyes…were a deep rich red. Wasn't sure that was possible. He had his own cigarette pressed between his lips and was currently puffing smoke into my face. Mine fell out during the little confrontation…his didn't.

"Ah look at you," He smiled. "You're quite the handsome boy aren't you. I use to look like you before, but that was years ago. Oh my, look at that scar, had a run in with the Red Devil's did you?"

Holy shit, this man knows way too much. Even down to what my scar meant. Most cops didn't even know, it was practically only people on the street. But this man, he was definitely not from the street.

I yanked myself back and he let me go.

"Now can you relax so we can talk?"

"I should just shoot you," I told him and shoved the gun into my jacket's large pocket. I made sure to keep it pointed at him.

"Ah he talks!" He cheered. It wasn't funny. He shrugged, "No sense of humor though."

"Who are you?" I asked.

He sighed, "God you ruined it, you were so cool up until you became cliché. So close, so close."

"Listen you old fuck, I will shoot you."

"No you won't." He gave me a creepy smile.

"Oh?"

"You are too curious, you wanna know who I am, you are afraid if you'll be able to get away, you won't…because I have bombs hooked up to my pulse." He opened his jacket to reveals bombs. Were they real? No idea. "If you shoot me, I blow up."

"Why wouldn't you open the conversation with that, what if I did?" I told him slipping the gun back into the back of my pants.

"Then I'd die," He shrugged but then smiled again. "That's the people you have to worry about my boy. The ones who aren't afraid of dying."

"Then talk, say what you want to say. Are you going to preach to me about something, or try and convince me to stop because you don't really wish to kill me?"

He erupted in laughter. It was loud enough to draw some attention only on this side of the street. Cass was still unaware.

"Oh no, you got it all wrong. I'd _love _to kill you. But you see, I could've just shot you or paid someone to shoot you, it wouldn't have been that hard. But, I had to make sure you were who I wanted to kill, that was the other problem. But, now I know you are. See, the way you reacted, and the way you are keeping your cool to me, tells me you're the leader. Also since you're meeting Detective Cass over there."

"Did you follow him?"

"Yes I did," The man nodded. "I've been waiting to meet you. And all I had to do was rape a few dead girls."

My eyes shot open. "That was you!"

"Sure was." He smiled happily like I was rewarding him. "I had to do something to get Cass to contact you. It's so easy to sneak into a crime scene as long as you hold a nice looking camera, and a jacket with yellow lets on it. Even easier to just read Cass' text message. I even put it in the wrong pocket mind you, just to mess with him, but he didn't even seem to notice. Better start working with some more professional people."

"Why Cass?"

"My dear boy, please don't underestimate me again."

"Giovanni's pulse reader."

"Bingo!"

This man's insane.

"I just simply took the last survivor, which is the famous detective over yonder, and tailed him for a while. I had my theories that he was contacting you for certain cases, but had no actual proof until today, naw'mean?"

Is he saying a bunch of different words, from different regions to throw me off? Bingo, yonder, dear boy, naw'mean. These are words used all over the country, and he doesn't have any accent that sticks out. I've never been in a situation like this. I can't shoot him, I could try and fight him and yet…this vibe I'm getting from him. Truthfully, he completely embarrassed me earlier when I tried to shoot him, but I could chalk that up to being overconfident...supposedly. In reality, he could've broken my hand, taken the gun, and shot me. I knew that, this man…I don't know, he's something…I just…don't know.

He started laughing again. I was facing forward again, not wanting him to look at my face anymore.

"Boy, you really are trying to figure everything out in this situation that you've found yourself in."

I didn't respond, there was nothing I had to say.

"This just proves you are the leader of that group the Saints. What did they call you, Saint Michael? That's a good nickname for you, the leader of God's army, the one who through Satan into hell. I like it, well thought out. Most of the religious stuff in history wasn't actually done by God but by his right hand man, Michael. So really, I like it. Well Michael, here's where we get down to business."

This wasn't good, he was intelligent, if not, just was religious. Either way, both were terrible criminals. Intelligent led to many difficulties and religion could be just as bad. And he's been treating this entire situation like it was just a joke. Did he understand that one of us might not be walking away, or both of us if that bomb goes off.

"Business?" I inquired.

"Yes, we can't always have fun, well...we can, because our jobs are fun because killing is fun. Oh, and I know you are analyzing every sentence not sure if you can take what I say serious or not, well I do love killing, so you can take that previous one as fact." He nudged me, "See, I'm helping you out."

That fucker, he nudged me. If anyone, even people I know, nudge me, I'll react.

"Listen," I growled, "You may have a slight upper hand right now, and you may think you're hot shit for catching me off guard. But you don't have the slightest clue what you're getting yourself into. If you think you can scare me, you're wrong. Even if you kill me, what we do won't stop, and you will die. You will go to hell, I don't care if you're religious or not, you will burn in agony and torment for eternity. And if that isn't enough, if you do kill me, I know my team will torture you, and if you don't kill me, I'll fucking torture you myself So either way, after this little confrontation is over, you're dead. You hear me, this isn't some half assed little threat that I'm saying because you have me backed into a corner. This is a full on promise, no matter what happens, you will die, and I hope to God I get to do it."

There was a pause between us and it was filled with people chatting as they walked by us.

The pause ended when he erupted with laughter once again. "My boy, that was _so _scary." He smacked me on the back a couple times. I swear to God if he didn't have bombs on him he'd already be dead. "I bet when you tell other people that, they get terrified. They probably cower on their knees and beg for forgiveness. Well that ain't me. See, I could be Lucifer himself. Hell doesn't scare me, hell scares the weak, the cowardly. I'm not, if there is a hell, I know I would rule it, because that's who I am. You are still underestimating me, and that's not good, because if you continue to do that, you will die."

"You're an old man out of his league; there is nothing to even estimate." I retorted.

"You're out of your league." He replied completely calmly taking an inhale of his cigarette.

That shocked me, it sent shivers up my spine. I didn't like this, not at all. When everyone found out who I was, and what I did. They panicked, they knew they would die, they knew they had no escape. This man knows, and _he_ confronted me. Then to say that, and sound serious. Like I didn't know what I was doing. I always knew what I was doing, that's why I was good at what I did. This man, he honestly isn't afraid of me at all. That was something I never experienced from anyone in years.

"You know those secret government agencies and special task forces? The ones that don't technically exist and all that?" He asked me.

"Oh is this where you scare me and say you were in the best one." I snorted.

He chuckled, "I wasn't in one, I wasn't a part of a team. I was the guy they sent to destroy the task forces. They sent me in to kill the best, because I was better than the best."

My hands were starting to shake, this was freaking me out. He was completely psyching me out. I stuffed them in my pockets before the shaking became visible.

"Don't worry, I was hired by some guy with too much money for his own good to kill you and your team. However, he was annoying so I killed him. Now I'm free lance, truthfully, I wasn't even going to take on this task until I thought about it."

He's admitted to killing multiple people to me without care, it's unnerving. "About what?"

"The challenge," His grin widened. "I love the thought of battling in this city against you. God it excites me!" He exclaimed drawing some attention but in big city fashion, people ignored him. "So don't think you can convince me not to hunt you, because I want to, oh God how I want to. You have proven your worth over and over again. But everyone you kill either underestimates you, or isn't powerful enough to stop you. Sadly, for you that is, I am neither and will end you. Because, modestly, I'm smart, and I know you're smart, and you haven't ever dealt with someone who is smart. Or if they were, they weren't going against you, you simply attacked them. This is the first time you are in an actual war, better get ready."

"So many threats, I'm shaking." I jeered although on the inside I was terrified. I never had someone want to_ hunt _me before. He was making this all like a game.

"Hmph, just wait. I know you are still not taking me seriously, but you will soon, don't worry."

"Why wait so long after we took out Giovanni?" I asked.

"Long ago, there was once a man who paid a sculptor to take a giant block of marble, and carve something beautiful. He paid him the money, and delivered the block of marble. He waited a month before visiting the sculpture. The block of marble sat there, untouched. He was angry and demanded the sculptor to start his work. He waited two months and went back. Still, nothing was done. He was even angrier and threatened the sculptor to start the work. He waited half a year before going back. When he did, there was still the untouched marble in the middle of the workshop. The man was furious. He screamed at the sculptor to get to work, and told him, he'd be back in one year and it better be done. The year passed and the man returned to find the sculpture still…untouched. He called his men into the workshop and they grabbed the sculptor. The man was so furious, so angry, he was going to murder the artist in the street. When the artist, calmly, asked for one more week. After some thought the man gave it to him. He told his men to watch him in case he skipped town. The man came back a week later to find the block of marble turned into the most beautiful sculpture he'd ever seen. He asked the artist why he waited so long if he could do it in a week. The artist responded that he was thinking and planning the entire time, because he only had one chance."

"Are you high?"

"What? Didn't enjoy the story?"

"Preparation, that's all you had to say. You needed preparation."

"No, _planning_, I needed planning, preparation is taking some extra ammo, planning is making sure everything goes correctly. You don't say 'everything went according to preparation'."

"Whatever, you're still a fucktard."

He chuckled, and I don't know any more if he was just trying to mess with me or if he truly found everything that was happening funny.

"Now, we know each other's faces, but we don't know each other's names."

Is he serious? Does he actually think I'll tell him my name?

"I don't actually expect you to tell me your name, thus why I will always call you Michael. But you can call me Blaine."

"Kinda gay huh?"

"You do have good retorts I'll give you that, but that just shows how young you are, which proves your lack of experience and ability."

"You honestly think you're better than me don't you?"

There was a pause and I actually sneaked a peak to look at him. His eyes instantly darted to mine. This smile slowly slid across his face, the smoke form the cigarette slowly drifting up. It was creepy, eerie, and terrifying. Not because it seemed he was simply doing it to scare me, but because he did it for the reason of actually finding a reason to smile. As if he knew something, like…he knew he was better than me. In his mind, it wasn't a true contest.

"I don't know."

"What?"

"That's what has me so excited." He stuffed his hands into his cargo pants. "You don't understand the level that I've kicked us onto. Everything you've done, everyone you've killed…is nothing compared to this right now. You are _done_ doing the killing, I'm doing the killing…you're doing the surviving. I know that if I make a mistake I could die, I know that, and I haven't felt like that in decades. Now you just have to realize that, and I know you won't until after today."

He began walking away. "In fact…right now."

"What?" I exclaimed. "What are you planning?"

He didn't look back at me but kept walking, hands stuffed in his pockets and hunched over.

"What are you planning!" I screamed drawing attention from people around me.

He stopped, glanced back at me, his red eyes pierced through me. They held such blood lust that I've only seen a few times in my life. Not the kind of anger, but the kind of excitement. The kind that gets excited to see people die, or see blood flow. The eyes that have seen more death than wars, and have probably killed more than some battles. This man, looking at him, was death. He was built to fight, and he was old which meant he had experience. He handled himself like a pro in this situation, I was the one who acted like an amateur. I refused to turn my gaze because then I'd really be a pussy. But as I continued to stare at him, my skin started to crawl. He gave off this vibe, this utterly terrible feeling. And for a moment, I thought, honestly I thought, maybe Satan did send him. Was he honestly sent to battle against me? Was this more than just two people? I never felt this before, the only time I felt this fear was when my mom died. But that was legitimate, this man didn't even do anything, and I was this terrified of him. Why?

He turned back around and kept walking slowly. He raised his arm casually as if just waving goodbye before going on a vacation.

"Let the crimson flow!" He shouted.

What?

A loud noise. A scream. A gun shot. More screams. Crying. The ground shook. Car horns beeped. Glass breaking. Even more screams. Shouts. Curses. Sobbing.…death…lots of death.

These were all things I heard in the next couple seconds.

I looked back to the street and my skin tightened. My mouth couldn't help but fall as I found it hard to breath. Carnage, that's what I saw. It took me a mere moment to realize Blaine put this all together. To describe what I saw is hard, there was so much going on all at once. What I first saw was a car smashed into a building, pinning a person against the wall. Another person was lying underneath the car, they were dead as well. Men in black trench coats poured into the street and sidewalk, around twenty I'd say. They must've been hiding in stores, cars, and some probably just around the corner.

The driver from the car that just pinned a man to a building stepped out. He was also dressed in black and as he stepped out he swung in his grip a fully automatic weapon. He slid the first bullet into the chamber and instantly began unloading into the crowd. I looked around and the rest of the wicked men also had various weapons and guns. More cars poured into the street and I knew they were driven by Blaine's men. They slammed into other cars, drove onto the sidewalk smashing into buildings, and some blew up right away, which meant they had explosives in them. Big SUV's pulled up in a line at the edges of the street. They were so close together, and were so many, they formed almost a perfect block. People had to either climb over them or under them to get out.

We were trapped on a street, with mad men shooting and killing. They didn't discriminate, I watched as teenagers and even younger were gunned down. A mother was beaten with a butt of a gun and collapsed besides her stroller holding a baby. The men didn't hesitate to kick the stroller over, and the precious baby tumbling out.

I fell to my knees witnessing this carnage. It felt like slow motion. No matter where I looked there was tragic death. Small bombs exploding, people screaming in pure terror. I couldn't believe this was happening. I already knew it would be called the biggest terrorist attack in decades. There must've already been over thirty people dead, and worse yet…there were many more to die. The street was packed with people, over at hundred easy, not counting those in stores or out of my view. This could go from terrible to horrendous. Something had to be done, and soon. The people had nowhere to run, they tried to get into stores but the wicked men just followed. They stood next to the makeshift SUV barriers as well, so people couldn't run there. They could only sit and take it.

I saw as Cass was hiding under his table. Not so much in fear, but simple reaction and what his training taught him. He knew he had to stay safe first, then come up with a plan before acting. He was thinking rationally it seemed, or as rational as one could in this situation.

Me, on the other hand. I was losing it. My mind was officially fucked. I didn't know what to do, I couldn't feel my legs and my hands wouldn't stop shaking. I couldn't even blink as all I could do was stare on. It was a miracle I survived this long. It must've been because no one was around me so they were all focusing on the other people. Or maybe…Blaine told them not to kill me, he wants to kill me himself. He must want me to witness this tragedy and realize what he is truly capable of. I was underestimating him, but if he was able to put this all together, not even knowing the location of where until this morning. It was impossible and yet…it was happening right now in front of my eyes.

Blaine was trying to show how weak I was, and he was right. I was just trying to think of a way to survive right now. I could duck behind the store and maybe hide in the changing rooms. Maybe I could sneak passed the SUV's and escape. Maybe since I was dressed in black I could act casually and get out that way. Maybe if I just don't move, they won't kill me because of Blaine's orders. Maybe police would come soon and save us. Maybe Cass will spring to life and help out.

Maybe…maybe…maybe…

Then something inside me snapped.

What was I saying? What was I thinking? My mind's lost, I'm letting fear and emotions take control. I never allow that to happen and yet right now, my emotions were over taking me completely. I needed to think rationally, I needed to calm down. I need to break the situation down in my mind and readjust accordingly. I was the leader of our group because of the ability I had to remain calm in all situations. I was always able to think clearly and that's what kept me alive. Letting panic, fear, and terror swell inside doesn't help me at all. It was just plain dumb to allow it to for even the slightest second. However, thinking all of that, my hands were still shaking. I still felt the fear, not the adrenalin like I usually did. I need a realization; I needed to come to my sense. I needed to grab hold of that one concept that could bring me back to reality. If I didn't, I surely wouldn't last long.

Then I thought about it, not lasting long. If I died here…a definite possibility…then what? It made me think back on my short life I lived up until this point and in doing so, I realized something.

I hated my life. It was shit. So why the fuck should I care if I die?

"What the fuck am I saying?"I asked myself.

My hands stopped shaking. I felt my blood boiling throughout my body. I felt what I always felt. Hatred, anger, venom, disgust and pity on the world. I felt my cold, cool exterior take back over. My emotions were put back down as my brain took back over. The one thing that has always kept me surviving through my life. The fear disappeared as the adrenalin replaced it. My teeth grinded thinking about who I was, and what I had to go through in my fucking life. It was a sick joke, it must be. The fact I wasn't a cold-blooded murder was nothing short of a miracle. Then again, I do kill, a whole fucking lot, which maybe I did because I was always just so pissed off at life…my life…the life that I often wished would end so I could just be done with everything.

Blaine was right about one single thing. People who don't fear death are truly dangerous and I was one.

I stood back up, nerves of steel with my handgun now gripped tightly in my iron fist. I was being weak before, but now I was back to myself because truthfully, I don't care if I die. I don't have a reason to live except for what I do, and even then, it may not even be right. So if this was my grave, this dirty city street…

I smirked, "Then fuck it, beware Satan I'm coming for ya real soon."

I broke into action. I sprinted across the street, firing my handgun as I did. I was better than my usual and it must've been my adrenalin. I nailed every person with each bullet. The men in black noticed their own were falling and knew something was wrong. One turned to me and I put a bullet right in his fucking face. He fell down dead and I slid over to his automatic weapon. I scooped it up with one hand. I shot back to my feet and took aim at a man who was repeatedly stepping on some teenage girl. I filled his back with holes. I spun around and was faced with a man who was charging me. He must've been out of ammo. I shot one single shot into his head and he went down. I turned again to see a man holding an open briefcase. I knew it was a bomb and sprinted at him.

He snapped it shut, which must've meant he finished arming it. He held it close to his chest, but I wasn't going to allow that. I put another single shot into his forehead. He fell down and I quickly grabbed the briefcase. I did two spins to gain momentum, like a hammer-toss, before chucking it at the end of the street I was near. It flew towards the SUV's and right when it got there, it exploded. I felt sound wave brush passed me but I stood my ground. Two of the SUV's blew up as well and rolled over. It created a path.

I felt my shoulder explode and I knew I just took a bullet. It didn't even hurt, my adrenalin was blocking out all useless things. I dove onto the ground and shot any of Blaine's men that survived the briefcase bomb. They were blasted to the ground so it was easy pickings from where I lay. After I shot them, I rolled over to another gun. I picked it up and rose back to my feet. I saw as another man was coming towards me. We shot at the same time. I felt something graze my side while he felt something bury straight through his heart. I don't train day in, day out, to take crappy ass shots. I shoot to kill.

I dove behind a car to check my ammo of my new gun.

At this point, people noticed me. The innocent and the wicked. Cass jumped to his feet and began unloading his police designated handgun. He had a pretty good shot, he was hitting people left and right. The citizens looked at us with hopeful eyes, like we were their savors. It actually disgusted me, the fucking pitiful, weak people. To sit around screaming and crying and hoping someone would save them. People need to grab hold of their own lives. I sat around and waited for someone to save me when I was in trouble. They didn't come, I lost everything and no one ever helped me. The fact that I help others is a misgiving, I kill the bad, and in doing so, help the innocent. If people wish to live, they have to do what I did. Crawl, lie, cheat, and fight to survive.

Blaine's men began taking cover, realizing it wouldn't be so easy if I was fighting back. I knew it wouldn't be easy for me anymore, I took all my previous victims by surprise, but after just slaying countless number of people, they knew I was a threat. They would come after me next. I would surely die if they all came after just me.

I smirked, time to inspire. People were stupid, they had simple weak minds and they could easily be corrupted in situations like this. It would only take a few decisive words. I jumped on top of a car, which was extremely dangerous but as I've been stating for a good while now. I don't care what happens to me.

"Listen to me!" I shouted. "Fight or die!" I screamed. "Fight or _die!_" I jumped back off the car before I was riddled with bullets. The fuckers were terrible shots anyways, they could barely hit anything.

It took a moment for people to realize what I was talking about. However, one man finally understood. I watched as he found his strength and tackled one of the wicked men. From there it was a domino effect. People started fighting back all over. They grabbed guns and began shooting back. It went from a massacre to a fire fight. It was a spectacle to see. The men in black were terrified. They had the power originally, but now the power was evenly displaced, _and _we had far more numbers. They were going down, and they knew it.

Blaine didn't account for people when they band together. People are weak, I believe that most of the time, but I know the strength in a mob. I just created a mob on my side.

I stood back up and entered the fire fight. Well, I would've but it seems I wasn't really needed. The people were taking the street back. Many were dying, but they were going down with a fight. To go down fighting…now that's a death. Can't have any regrets then. Best yet, the men in black started throwing down their weapons. They realized they really stood no chance. It was amazing to hear as the regular, every day citizens, let out screams of victory like they were on a battlefield fighting for their country. It was amazing to see how they all bonded in a matter of minutes. Amazing, and also disappointing. Why can't people do this on their own? Why can't people think for themselves? Why do they sway so easily to groups and commands?

The entire disaster lasted probably only a total of five minutes. It was short, it didn't take much for this to happen. It was terrible to know so many people could die within that short amount of time. It was eye-opening as well. To know that simply just walking down the street, and something so crazy and traumatic happened. Many were crying and holding each other looking around at all the carnage. I stared on with unwavering eyes because I was use to this. Sure it was more than I normally see at once, but it was blood and death and I've seen enough of that in my life to no longer fear it.

I heard sirens in the distance and I knew that help would be on the way soon so it was definitely my time to leave. I looked around to see everyone staring at me. Thank God my hood was still up, and I don't think anyone could get a clear picture of my face. I was also happy to be wearing gloves so my finger prints wouldn't be on these weapons. I looked around at the faces and they all just stared. One or two gave a head nod in thanks, but no one spoke. The couple of Blaine's men that surrendered were face down on the ground. The people watching them were looking at me, that definitely wasn't smart, but I wasn't about to say anything.

I was about to leave when something caught my eye from above. I looked up and saw something equally as horrifying as what just took place. There was a crane moving on a building. The building wasn't too tall, only about ten stories. As the crane moved I just watched it, not sure why it was moving. However, my teeth grinded when I saw what was attached to the crane. There was a rope, and that rope was tied around a man's neck. He was slowly being dragged off the building's roof and when that happens, he would choke to death.

Everyone was watching with me and the people started to gasp and cry as they saw the man struggle to stay on the roof. But there would be no way he could fight against a crane. He was pulled off and he instantly began struggling. His hands and feet were tied, as well as his mouth was gagged. I took aim but there would be no way I could shoot that rope. He was struggling and the rope was moving all around making the impossible shot even more impossible.

"Oh no!" A woman shouted. "There's another!"

I cursed as I witnessed another man slowly teeter at the edge of the roof. I'm sure there were more up there as well. I couldn't imagine slowly being pulled to my death like that. Trying hard to fight against the mechanical power of the crane and feel so weak. To see someone slowly and painfully die in front of me and know I was about to die that same way. It was unfathomable.

"Let's go help them!" Someone shouted. It was followed by a number of shouts of agreement.

I watched, surprised, as people stepped up to take charge. They rushed into the building that the crane was on. I felt a little proud that the people were acting much tougher and were actually thinking for themselves. That's a first all right.

I jumped off the car, I definitely had to get going. There were sirens behind me so I would have to leave at the other end of the street. I started walking and people spread out to make a path for me. I don't know if it was in fear or out of respect. They knew I was someone and it probably didn't take much for them to think it through enough to suspect that I was part of the Saints. I looked over at Cass to see him give me a head nod. I was happy he was smart enough to not actually come over and talk to me. That would obviously give away that we have a connection.

I got in front of the building that the crane was on. I looked up and saw as a third man was being pulled over the edge. It was tough to see another man going to his death, but hopefully those people were up there by now and maybe could reverse the crane. Their necks weren't breaking because there wasn't a significant drop, but that meant two things. The bad, it was an even more unpleasant death. The good, a person could still be saved if they were able to get the rope from around their neck in time.

Didn't matter to me, I couldn't do much. I just had to get out of here before I was stopped by someone.

To say what happened next is extremely hard. Not because it was painful to explain but that I barely knew what was going on.

There was an enormous boom, bigger than I've ever heard in my entire life, and I've heard bombs go off. I had less than a second to react, as if that mattered. I felt this insane pressure against me, and I knew it was a sonic wave. It easily lifted me off my feet and sent me flying backwards, like a paper doll. I smashed through a store's windows and continued flying until I hit the wall in the store. I lost all my air and fell to the ground. An entire rack of clothes fell on me and completely covered me. It was probably more than just one rack of clothes since the blast must've knocked all of them back to where I was.

While I was under the clothes I curled up in pain, but it wasn't over. This immense heat of an unbearable degree overcame me. I couldn't see because of all the clothes but I knew there was a fire raging right above me. If these clothes weren't here, I probably would've been burned alive. However, one doesn't usually die from burning alive in fire this big. They lose their oxygen since the fire takes it all, and that's exactly what happened to me.

I couldn't breathe at all, I sucked as much as I could but no air came to me. I gasped and wanted to throw the clothes off to get to the outside, but I knew that would be death. I stayed under the blankets as my ears were ringing a deafening tone. My lungs squeezed painfully inside as they were dying. I felt my mind spinning and my eyes couldn't open. As all this was happening, I found myself falling asleep. It might've been from the lack of air, or maybe my body just couldn't take it anymore and it was shutting itself down. I felt my will to fight leave me because as I said before.

What do I care if I die?

This should be relief, and as I lay there…it was. I lay underneath a pile of clothes; slowly drifting out of consciousness for what I could only hope would be…the last time ever.

* * *

**Sorry for the delay, been busy with college. The actual story starts now, I know it took a long time to get here, but what can I say I like my development. Please review and let me know what you think. **


	18. Alive

**Squall's POV**

"Hey Da!" I called out.

"Yeah Squall," My Dad answered.

"I'm bored." I pouted.

He chuckled. "Well why dontcha stop laying 'round and do sum'em."

I was lying in my backyard in the thick grass that my Dad has been constantly avoiding cutting no matter how many smacks on his ear from my Mom he got. I was staring up at the clouds trying to make shapes out of them, but there was a problem. There were hardly any clouds in the sky and I can only make the same cloud into different things so many times. My Dad was sitting in a chair from the kitchen that he placed outside as he read the newspaper.

"There's nuttin to do!" I complained.

"Why dontcha see what your Sis is up too?"

"She's boring."

"Ya t'ink everyt'ing is boring." He laughed.

"'Cause it 'tis." I whined.

"It isn't boring when d'ose Estharian aliens are breaking into our yard."

"What?" I looked at him.

"Oh no!"He shouted diving onto the ground. "Fire, get down!"

He started crawling over to me, "Squall my boy, careful!"

I started laughing and flipped onto my stomach while crawling towards my Dad. "Where are they Da?"

"All over!" He shouted. "We're surrounded."

"I'll shoot back!" I screamed. I got on one knee and pretended to hold a rifle. "Bang, bang."

"Good shot lad," My Dad laughed. He held his own invisible weapon and shot as well. "Boom, boom."

"Boom, boom?" I questioned. "What weapon is that?"

"It's a bazooka," He cheered, "Boom, boom. Think big lad, think big!"

We rolled around on the ground, diving over each other and pretending to shoot bad guys for at least an hour. It never got old and it was so entertaining. He never hesitated to make a fool out of himself.

"Excuse me." Me and my Dad stopped play and looked towards the street. At the waist high fence, there was a lady standing on the other side. "I didn't mean to interrupt but I'm a little lost."

"No problem darlin'," My dad got off the ground and stood up. He faced the lady, "Well aren't ya quite the pretty lass."

"Why thank you," She giggled twirling her hair, "You're quite handsome too."

He took a step forward but froze before he could even take the second. I watched him wondering what he was doing when suddenly his hands swiftly grasped his leg. "Cramp!"He shouted.

"Da what's wrong?"

"My leg! Walk it off, walk it off," He told himself as he walked in circles. "Oh boy oh boy, that hurts."

"Da?"

"Don't ya worry son, just a stray bullet, it'll heal in time." He joked but this always seemed to happen when he talked to some woman, I never understand why.

"I'm sorry," The lady giggled again finding the entire situation funny. "Didn't mean to upset you."

"Not at all dear, ya didn't do anyt'ing wrong."He finally made his way over to the fence.

"Well I'm just trying to find the library," She said, "I'm not from around here."

"Ya sound Galbadian," My Dad guessed.

She nodded eagerly. "I am, I'm on vacation but I want to get a book while I stay here and I already read the one I brought."

"Well t'ats simple lass," my Dad leaned on the fence and smiled.

"It shore is simple!" My Dad's head whipped behind him to see my Mom walking out towards him. She marched right up to the fence. "Ya go straight down this road ya hear, just keep walking and you will find it, ya can't miss it."

"Oh, uh thank you," The lady quickly walked away and disappeared out of sight.

"Hey honey," My Dad scratched his head. "I was just playing with Squall."

My Mom huffed and stormed back into the house. "Cut the grass!" She shouted as she disappeared back inside.

My Dad looked at me, smiled, and shrugged. "Oh no, she was a spy, quick another attack is on its way."

I laughed as my Dad dove back on the ground with me to keep playing.

* * *

**February 28****th**

My eyes opened to darkness, my entire body hurt, I could feel the warm thick crimson on me, and I could hear screaming and sirens. How did I ever go from that…to this?

* * *

**Rinoa's POV**

I tell myself I don't love Squall.

I was sitting on the very couch that Squall and I just committed terrible sins, or rather, attempted to commit said sins. I don't know what it was between us where we could never just completely have sex without being interrupted. Originally I just wanted to have sex with him to get it off my mind. I know that makes me sound like a complete guy, but it was true. I can at least admit that he was on my mind, but I convinced myself that it was simply because of the sex. He's attractive, everyone knows that, even he knows it. That's why it comes to no surprise when I wanted to sleep with him. I was afraid it would be obvious to everyone and so I tried to act distant. It led to bickering between us and many stupid fights. However, in some weird way it made us closer to one another.

We could understand each other without really having to say anything. I didn't realize it until some missions we went on. We were able to clear a room out without uttering one word of communication. Even Seifer noticed it, and I think he was the only one because he has the same connection with Squall. Zell and Irvine have to be given orders or ask what they should do. But Squall, Seifer, and I were able to practically read each other's minds. We spent a lot of time together, training, and preparing. I know they are trying to turn me into this super soldier of some sorts, and still think they're wasting their time. I can tell a difference in my physical ability than my previous life so I go along with it. It's tough taking on constant tests like that 'loaded or unloaded' quiz Squall was giving me earlier today. It was hard, but they warned me it would be and I signed up so I couldn't complain. The problem wasn't the job, it was just with Squall.

I tell myself I don't love Squall.

Then why do I feel so afraid when I think of not spending time with him? How come everyone else in the house would do whatever they wanted and I didn't care, but the second Squall does something I think about whatever it is? I ask if I can come or if he needs help or what he's doing. It only pisses him off but that at least gets him talking to me. When did I do things just to have him talk to me? I sound like a high school girl trying to find reasons to talk to her crush. It was fucking pathetic and I hated it. It's why I often gotten into fights with him because as much as I enjoy talking with him. I've never had that 'roll-over-and-die' attitude. Even so, the fact I am thinking about all of this right now only proves the point all the more.

I tell myself I don't love Squall.

If that is the case, then how come even though we didn't finish having sex, which reminds me to make a mental note to disrupt Quistis during her almost climax. That's unforgivable I don't care if there is a couch rule. But how come I am happier now than before because I know he wanted me. For whatever reason he did, isn't the point right now, he still wanted me, sober. That part's important. Even if he doesn't like me, he finds me attractive and that's always a plus to a girl. When I think about it more closely, Squall isn't the kind of guy to just try and sleep with someone he lives with and toss aside. Even if he won't admit it and claims he could be. I know he thinks logically and logically there would be no long-term benefit in it for him to do that. It would be awkward since we have to deal with each other every day and I'm not some girl he never has to see again. Therefore, he lost all logic and went with his feelings, which makes this even better. But it doesn't matter because…

I tell myself I don't love Squall.

Thinking about all this isn't doing me any good. I'm lost in my own thoughts, but at least the TV is on so it looks like I'm watching it. Selphie and Zell are technically. Of course it's some cartoon. I don't care if Zell is older than me, he will forever be a child. Seifer and Quistis or sitting at the kitchen table talking about something. Well Quistis was on her laptop as well and Seifer was reading the paper. Like some old married couple. Irvine was also at the table with a large rifle in pieces. He was giving it a thorough cleaning. So it was just me that didn't seem to be doing anything of worth right now. I was playing with my phone in my fingers. Constantly pressing one of the buttons to light up the screen to see if I had any texts or calls. One thing was for sure, I wasn't going to text Squall.

That goal lasted five seconds before I flipped open the phone and put his number in the address bar.

_I wanna talk._

I texted at first before I deleted it. That sounded way to much like I was his girlfriend and that would only piss him off. I thought more on this as the phone was flipped up giving me a miniature computer keyboard. It was strange that these letters that meant nothing could form words that shouldn't mean anything either besides communication but if that was the case it would be easy. I was back to thinking of what to text to a guy I liked, but that wasn't the case.

I tell myself I don't love Squall.

I envisioned the plethora of messages I could send him.

_Today was weird can I meet you in the city for some coffee._

What am I doing, inviting him for a date? Besides that obviously means I just wanna talk like my previous message.

_Look let's not over think anything alright._

I'm the only one over thinking anything here, I'm sure he isn't at all.

_Stop being a pussy and ask me to dinner._

Hmm, that one may actually work. Only in a melodrama that is. But it does seem I have to be the bigger person here.

_I hate Seifer don't you?_

I chuckled at that thought. It could be a good conversation starter but again, that just screams I wanna talk. Which I do, but I don't wanna be dancing around or candy coating anything. He knows I want to talk no matter what I say so therefore I will say it straight out what I'm feeling.

_God I wish we finished I would've came so hard._

I slammed my palm against my forehead, what the fuck was wrong with me.

Okay, I'll keep it simple. I'll just say something about work, just so he knows I'm not mad at him or anything. That way the ball will be thrown into his court and then see how he responds.

My phone vibrated and lit up with someone calling me. My eyebrows arched in surprise as I saw Storm on the center of my screen. It was the codename for Squall on all our phones. My codename on the phone was Rain. Seifer suggested it should be Rhino…that fucking dick. Irvine is Clint, Zell is Daniel, Selphie is Joan, Quistis is Jolie, and Seifer is Cleef.

I decided to leave the phone open when I answered it so it would be on speaker. That way he would have to be nice at first and if he asked me to take it off speaker it would mean he wanted to speak privately and everyone would hear. That way it wouldn't be me who steps away to talk and everyone thinks I'm the one who is – what the fuck am I doing. I'm over thinking everything, I just gotta answer the phone.

I pressed the plastic meaningless button that would allow me to have a very meaningful conversation. "Hey." I kept it cool as I answered it.

"Well hello there."

My eyes narrowed, that wasn't Squall's voice. I snatched the remote out of Selphie's hands and turned the TV off. The 'kids' were going to protests before they saw my glaring eyes. I stood up and waved my hand to get Seifer's attention. He glanced up from the paper and I made sure to give him my 'be fucking serious now' stare. He nudged Quistis and Irvine and nodded at me. Everyone's attention was on me. I sat back down and set the phone on the coffee table in front of me. I made sure to turn the volume all the way up.

"Who is this?" I started.

"Oh I was afraid I startled you so much that you fainted. I'm glad you haven't, I'd like to talk."

"I'm sorry I think you have the wrong number?"

The man on the other end chuckled. "Oh I do, do I? I don't think so."

"I don't know this number, I don't know what to tell you." I tried to remain cool.

"Let's not play around too long, your friend may be dead already."

My body froze and I could feel my skin tighten. What was he saying? He was calling from Squall's phone, what does this mean? Squall just dropped it, he just left it on the table at the café. This guy didn't take it from him, he doesn't have Squall. There's no way, Squall is the best there is. This couldn't be happening. I snapped my head to look at Seifer for help. He was up from his seat and making his way over to the phone.

"Oh no…did you faint this time," The voice said. "I really got to learn to break news easier."

"You're lying," I whispered suddenly finding the words hard utter passed my lips. How was this happening right now?

"Well… I may be actually, I'm not entirely sure. I got into a little tuffle with your leader and swiped his phone. He didn't even notice, little bit of a letdown honestly. But then you know that whole terrorist attack thing happened and I don't know if he survived that."

"Terrorist attack?"

"You don't know?" He sounded surprised. "I guess I called too early, figured it would be all over the news and that's what your group watches. Umm well…this sure is awkward. I made contact prematurely. Well…check out the news I can wait, I'm in no rush."

Who was this guy? Was he whistling right now while waiting…seriously?

Selphie was already flipping to the news and as soon as the channel appeared the TV there was dead silence as we listened.

They were showing pictures from in the sky looking down on the city. There was smoke, fire, and dust all over the place. There was clearly a spot where a building was and other buildings around it were starting to crumble. As the camera would zoom in and out, a lot of dead bodies could be made out lying in the street. Cars were tipped over and on fire. The TV would cut to other cameras in the city to see people were running all throughout the city, cars driving recklessly. Trying to get out or get home. The people feared there could be another attack but I knew instantly the person I was currently talking to did this. It wasn't a foreign attack of some kind.

The news women could be heard as her voice narrated what the TV showed. "It is a tragedy here today in Deling. There were a large number of men dressed all in black that unloaded automatic weapons into a civilian crowd. The crowd apparently fought back once another person, described as a young man, railed the people together and helped save many lives. People believe he is one of the Saints and it would make sense for one of their group members to help in a dire situation like this one." The news anchor paused, whether to help set the mood or because what she was saying truly was bothering her. It was hard to tell

"It seemed there was hope for a brief moment but then it was taken away once a large explosive was detonated in one of the buildings causing massive damage and deaths. So far there are only a handful of survivors, but more are being pulled out of the dust every minute. We will continue to keep you updated as we gather more news on the incident that is already being called the Five Minutes of Hell."

"Ah I love that news women," the voice said through the phone. "She really does a good job of spelling out what the TV obviously shows."

I couldn't formulate any thoughts. One of my hands somehow found its way to my mouth to stop the tear forming gasp that wanted to erupt. My other hand rested on my pounding heart hopelessly trying to get it under some sort of control. My mind was rushing so fast I couldn't even understand anything it was trying to tell me. I could only sit there and stare at the TV that showed the horrid situation that a person created. Killing hundreds maybe thousands of people, for what? But as horrible as it was to say, I didn't care about any of that. I didn't care if millions died…I only cared if one died. My only thought, my only word that danced on my lips trying to be articulate was the question of Squall's wellbeing. When I thought for the briefest of seconds if he died I felt an excruciating pain in my chest as I found it hard to breath. The single thought alone sent tears down my face. It left my body shaking in fear and my lips quivering questions I didn't dare ask in fear of the answers I may receive.

I tell myself I don't love Squall….

"What did you do!" I shouted as I grabbed the phone. "He better-"

Seifer's hand wrapped around my mouth tightly as he pulled my back to the couch. He grabbed the phone and held it close to his mouth.

"You got our attention," His voice was calm and collected. Ever ready for any situation.

"Are you ready to take me seriously?" The voice questioned.

"Are you ready to die?" Seifer shot right back.

"The guys in that group are hardcore," The man chuckled. "I liked the girl, crying over her boy. I hope they weren't having problems before he left to meet that detective. I couldn't imagine having a fight before someone I cared dearly about died."

I squirmed hard against Seifer's one hand against my mouth. Selphie grabbed my body forcing me into her smaller one. She ripped me from Seifer's hand. She fell back down on the couch in the process and I fell on top of her. She squeezed me as tight as she could, forcing my head into her shoulder. Her grip was like a vice as if the tighter it was the more things would be okay. I grabbed onto her as I found my entire body shaking uncontrollably. I could feel my stomach twist as I knew I would be sick soon.

"They're mind games," Selphie hissed urgently in my ear. "Just mind games, don't let him play you."

I don't care if that was the case, it was true. I couldn't imagine that being the last interaction I had with Squall before he died. Every time he leaves to do some 'work' and I don't go with him, I feel a slight worry attack my mind. I push it aside knowing I worry for everyone who leaves the apartment. But with him it was always different, I refused to admit it, but now…how could he survive something like that! It was…I just couldn't…

"Listen here," Seifer remained so cool all the time, I wished I could be like him. "You have just become public enemy number one. We will make sure the world knows this was done by a single man and make sure the world hates you."

"Very good," The voice chuckled. "That would be a good threat if I was trying to have the world hate me. On the contrary, I want the world to hate me, because I don't care what anyone thinks. Unlike your group, who needs the public to like them."

"So you did this for people to hate us? Do you think you can spin it so it looks like we did this, no one will believe that?"

"Not in the least, you have me all wrong," I could hear the gleefulness in his voice. "This was just my way of introducing myself."

"Overkill don't ya think?"

"Again, I don't want you underestimating me like your boss did."

"No one's my boss," Seifer snarled, I knew he wasn't actually mad at the comment, it was just the way he was playing his character. "I am the leader of this organization."

"Nice try, but I know he was."

Seifer chuckled, not overly so where it seemed fake. "You think I'm going to go meet with a detective myself?"

"Ahhh I understand. You are trying to lead me to believe you like to think you're above everyone else in the world. Are you about to give me a little rant about how you are the only one in the right to decide who lives or dies? That's what your little group is doing too huh?"

By the look on Seifer's face…that was exactly right. Who the fuck was this guy?

"Not at all," Seifer paused, it was more hesitation but he turned it into a pause. "I just don't like to take orders from people, and I don't like to live by today's rules. You killed hundreds of people to make an impression. I don't want to meet you when you actually want to accomplish anything. You like to kill and it doesn't bother you at all."

"That's easy to guess." The man replied casually.

"Well let me tell you something," Seifer's voice grew grim and stern. "We may only kill the wicked but that does not mean we are nice, kind, sweet people. We kill for one reason and only one reason. Because we fucking love it."

"Interesting."

"You didn't scare us with this whole _introduction_." Seifer somehow pulled off a menacing and somewhat cocky chuckle.

"What about your dear leader?" The man was insistent on Squall being the leader. He must have known, Squall must've given something away.

"He isn't," Seifer said again. I don't know how Seifer knows for sure Squall didn't let it slip.

"He told me you know."

"No he didn't," Seifer was firm. "He would never do that and if he did get you to believe he was our leader, then you have fallen for it. He's good at making people believe what he wants them too."

"Nevertheless, don't you care for him?"

"Of course I do," Seifer smirked and looked me in the eye, which meant what he was about to say was the truth. "I simply don't believe for a second he's in any danger at all."

I felt myself suddenly calm down just from hearing that one reassuring sentence. It just made so much sense. How come I was the only one freaking out this much? Don't I have any faith in Squall doing what he does best, surviving in the fucking craziest situations?

"If you say so," The man sighed as if he didn't care about this at all. "I know you will change all your phones or numbers or whatever but I'm still going to throw this phone away so you can't track it. Just be ready for the real show to start soon."

"Anytime." Seifer snapped the phone shut and looked at all of us. He smirked, "Stop looking so worried. I know Squall better than anyone and there is no way he didn't escape."

I pushed away from Selphie to sit up. "How can you be sure, a fucking bomb went off."

Seifer didn't waver. "Again, I know him better than anyone else, he isn't dead."

Then it hit me, Seifer wasn't just reassuring us, he was also reassuring himself in a way. As he just said, he was Squall's best friend and it was definitely vice versa as well. Seifer didn't truly get along with anyone but even I could see Squall having real conversations with him. The two of them started this crazy idea which has brought so much success. They have been at it since the beginning and I know they met each other in the academy. They were so young and they just dealt with problems. I know they joined the police to make a difference for something that happened in their pasts. They are the only two in the world who can truly understand each other. If anyone was worried about Squall, it was Seifer.

"He's right guys," Zell claimed. "We can't just sit here and think Squall's gone. That's just dumb on our part…he's not, he's just not."

He didn't say it in the most eloquent way but he did speak what was on all of our minds.

"So what do we do?" Selphie asked.

"We sit here and wait," Seifer said. "He'll-"

The door opened and slammed shut. Everyone watched as a very injured looking Squall stormed in.

"-walk in soon." Seifer finished not being able to cover his astonishment.

I slowly rose to my feet, as if the ground was unstable or I was walking for the first time. My knees felt weak but with seeing him alive in front of me I knew everything would be okay. "Squall," I whimpered so softly I'm not sure anyone heard it but me.

He looked around the room as his breathing was rough and deep. He took a couple big steps and brushed past Seifer. It looked like he was heading straight for me. I could imagine it, after almost being killed he realizes my importance in his life. He'll grab me tightly lifting me into the air. He'll hold me so close as if he even loosened his grip a little I'd be gone forever. I'd wrap my arms around him in an embrace I've been waiting my life for. Not just with Squall but to be truly wanted and held. I haven't felt it since my mother passed. Realizing it now, I always felt alone and that feeling just started to drift away because I joined this group. But really it was all Squall, the other person who felt all alone in the world with no parents and no family. It was a connection that kept us strong before we even knew each other well. It's why when he hugs me now, everything will be okay.

But he didn't come to me, he didn't pick me up, he didn't embrace me…he stopped. He bent down and grabbed the coffee table with both hands. He powerfully heaved it at the window-wall on the other side of Zell, who had to dodge out of the way to avoid being hit. It smashed into the window causing it to splinter sending a millions cracks to spring out in less than a second forming a spider web of cut lines.

"What the fuck!" He shouted. "Do you see that shit!" He pointed to the TV, "That's where I was!"

"We know," Quistis said.

"Oh well that's wonderful, I'm glad you know now!" He continued to shout. "Do you know it was done by one guy?"

"He just called." Seifer answered.

Squall spun to face Seifer, "Oh wonderful, he took my fucking phone." He looked back to Quistis and stepped closer. He leaned down so his head was only a foot away. "You will get your little ass to your computer and find out everything. I swear to God Quistis if you don't find out what soap he scrubs his ass with, I will fucking throw you out on the street."

"Hey," Seifer stepped forward ready to defend his girlfriend. "She will, now back off."

"Back off?" Squall's voice rose. With his right hand he grabbed Seifer arm yanking him closer making him off balance. He took a step closer to Seifer and turned so his left hand and shoulder were against Seifer's chest. He shoved him strongly and Seifer was sent flying into the TV knocking it off the stand and it fell on him. "Play time is fucking over. That man just killed hundreds of people, beat me in a fight, and played with my mind. I am not joking!"

Seifer threw the TV off him jumped to his feet. He looked like he was about to charge Squall but surprisingly stopped. I think he understood what Squall just dealt with and knew it wasn't the time.

"Let it be known!" Squall shouted pointing to the ground. "Our main task is to find this man who calls himself Blaine. No more street runs, no more helping people. The world can die for all I care, as long as Blaine dies along with it. I do not want anyone joking or laying on this couch. Everyone will be busy. I am not exaggerating, if you don't do your job I will throw you out of this group."

After shouting out his will he stormed off into his room, leaving the rest of us in the living room wondering what the fuck just transpired. Everyone took turns looking around the room, everyone's eyes met trying to send nonverbal messages to plan our next moves. I was the only one not meeting their eyes. I was too busy staring at the glass that collided with the coffee table. The cracks shot out from one main impact spot. There were far too many to count, they were so precise it could be viewed as art. The complex spider web of glass that entrapped my stare like a insect. I could only think of Squall whilst looking upon the glass. Only he could make such a mark on the glass because it fit him so well. I never knew any other person like Squall. The glass mimicked his mind and all its dangers. The complexity of the most intricate mazes reflected his psyche perfectly. I've thought of this before which is why the glass must've reminded me of it.

The paths he takes, the decisions he makes every fucking day. It makes me seriously start to question his sanity. I've questioned my sanity more than once and I just follow his orders. I cannot imagine what he goes through every day. Taking care of all of us while at the same time he is battling his conscious. We all have gone through that moment where we question if what we're doing is wrong, but we all lean on each other. He doesn't lean on anyone. He handles everything that happens by himself because that's how he was his whole life. He never backs down, he never gets afraid, and he never loses. Today, this was a big blow to his ego, and I don't care if that sounds dumb or unimportant. But his ego is his confidence, it is what stops him from second guessing himself and is what allows him to make impressive strategic plans. The minute he second guesses himself is the day we all die. We rely on him making a split second decision and being _right._ The one time he's wrong, everyone will doubt and second guess and we can't have that.

This group works for one reason and only one reason. The strong leader that Squall is. He keeps us together, he keeps us in line, and he makes us work. It puts a lot of pressure on him because he cannot make a mistake. If anyone else makes a mistake he can fix it…but who fixes his mistakes? I have tried getting him to open but this whole stupid thing we have between us right now is preventing it. He can't keep it bottled up inside, these emotions that affect him, and I know they _affect_ him. But how do you try to use methods of persuasion against a person whose mind can run laps around yours? It's impossible to get him to talk so it's impossible to help. How can you open a person up who has never relied on anyone but himself since being a child? My mom died…I had my father to make everything okay for me. I had money, a house, school, friends, I had everything. Squall…he had nothing, when his family died, he lost it all.

How can I even pretend to understand the first thing about him?

I know what I feel when I pull the trigger to end a person's life. It doesn't matter what emotion exactly just the fact that _some_ emotion passes through my mind. It still haunts me when I think back to over hearing Seifer and Squall talking in the gym one time. They thought I was listening to music as I ran on the treadmill. However, when my songs were switching I heard one simple exchange of sentences that makes my skin crawl.

_Ya know Seifer, I just don't care about how many lives I end anymore._

_Welcome to the club. Why do you think we're so good at what we do?_

This exchange I heard, these words. Do they understand the meaning behind it? How can Squall tell me I do wicked actions for good reasons? Is that not the most ironic statement in existence? Does he say it to me fully knowing he is lying to himself? How can a person justify a belief they do not follow themselves? These questions that burn inside me, the very ones I wish so desperately to ask Squall but I fear for his reaction let alone the truthful answers he may reply with. They break me up inside and I know that if these simple questions bother me so much, the questions in Squall's mind must be ripping his soul in pieces. Tearing at the very seam that is holding him together in this world that doesn't make sense.

This seems like a random tangent of thoughts that have attacked me repeatedly in this instant, the ones that stray from my worried emotions for Squall's heath. They aren't random, they have been in my head for a long while now and they are surfacing once again as I watch how Squall breaks down. I am worried for him, but not just physically, emotionally and mentally I fear he will collapse soon. After that happens, I don't know what to do.

I tell myself I don't love Squall.

I snort at the very thought. How much time I put into wondering about him points all conclusions to the opposite.

Without saying a word to the others I marched towards Squall room. I shoved open the door, stepped in, and slammed it behind me.

He was sitting on the edge of his bed. He stood up and faced me. He looked like shit. His knees on his jeans were ripped to reveal bloodied broken skin. His hands and palms were just as bad. His entire body was covered with dirt and ash. He looked tired and worn out and with good reason. His clothes and pants and various other rips throughout. All in all, he looked like absolute shit.

"I don't want anyone in here," He demanded.

"Too fucking bad," I shot right back.

"I'm not kidding," He growled.

"Like I am." I marched right up to him so I only stood a foot or two away. He stood over me glaring down menacingly; well it would be if I wasn't so use to it by now.

"What?" He hissed.

"You cannot just treat us all like shit 'cause something bad happened to you."

"I can do what I fucking want!" He shouted back. "I'm the leader, and if I want all of you to run naked laps around this building then you will."

"No Squall," I stood my ground. "We follow you because we trust you completely, you have never let us down, and I fear – oh God Squall you have _no idea _how much I fear for the day when you lose your will or whatever the fuck keeps you going. Will you lose us as well? What will you do without your team at your back? You need us as much as we need you."

"Bullshit," He stepped closer and got right in my face. "I have been alone my entire life. I thrive by myself _for_ myself. There is no one in this world I live for other than myself."

I stepped back shaking my head, "That's some bullshit and you fucking know it! You wouldn't do what you do if you only cared for yourself."

"I wouldn't what?" Squall tipped his head sarcastically. "Wouldn't what Rinoa? Wouldn't blow people's brains out?"

"How are you going to try and stand there and tell me you don't care? If that was the case you would be doing what this Blaine guy just did, killing hundreds of people. You are not him, you kill people that need to be killed."

"Oh fuck you, I'm barely alive from that but the fact is I am alive and I didn't need any of you guys there to stay alive," Squall turned around waving me off. "Trying to feed my own shit back to me, well I don't eat shit Rinoa, unlike the rest of the world."

"You protect the rest of the world Squall," I stressed. "You can say all you want that you do everything for yourself, but I know you."

"What!" He shouted spinning back around to face me. "You know me? You don't know anything about me. No worse, you think you know something about me when in actuality you no nothing."

"You wouldn't do what you do-"

"I fucking murder people!" He shouted. "Okay, do you understand that, you're a big girl now, you have to start thinking for yourself okay, I know it's hard and scary like your first dick you allowed to be shoved into you but like all things, you can either sit back and take what's happening to you, or you can grab hold and get on top of it."

His analogies are always fucking disgusting and he knows it. It gives him an edge in the battle since it's distracting but I'm use to this now and it no longer affects me.

"You told me to stop following the mainstream ideology and I did, so now what are you saying?"

"I'm telling you that you are still a fucking follower. You stopped listening to society and listen to me now. You believe everything I say and everything I tell you. I scoop big bowls of shit and you gulp it down loving it."

"I listen to you because you seem to know what you're talking about!" I shouted. "Do you really want me to completely think for myself and not listen to anybody else in the world? Because that sounds fucking retarded, I listen to people and follow those I think are worth it – personified in this case as you"

"So anything I say, you will listen and follow huh? That doesn't sound a little dumb to you?"

I jabbed my finger into his chest. "I will jump off a bridge head first, that's what you told me in the beginning. You said follow you anywhere."

"I also said if I tell you to shoot a kid you should shoot me instead, how do you not understand?"

"I do understand Squall I understand very well. You want me to listen to you and at the same time think for myself."

"Yes!" He shouted and he raised his hands high in the air. "Thank fucking God she understands!"

"You can try and make fun of me all you want but there is one fact that remains. I am a leader Squall, even if I don't seem like it to you, to the rest of the world, all seven of us seem like leaders. Then there is you, who happens to lead us. So call me a follower but I do think for myself and I've been thinking a lot lately. You cannot psyche me out anymore and you can't try and make me think different ideals based off your current mood."

"My current mood? You think I act based off whimsical spontaneous emotions?"

"No, neither spontaneous nor whimsical, everything you do and say has deep, deep meaning behind it. Whether you will ever admit it or not, it's the truth. But your rash emotions take over you even when you pledge to all of us never let emotions take over, but that's okay, because we need emotions. But you can be happy one day and something bad will happen to you and then everything after that you will be mister dark and gloomy. You tell everyone not to allow events and actions to bother you and yet, you take things personally most of all. One great fucking example would be right now. A normal person, after experiencing a fucking street shoot out followed by a bomb, would want to rush home and be held by someone. But no, not you, you have to yell at all of us and lock yourself up in a room."

"What the fuck are you saying?" Squall was still heated, it was a miracle he hasn't just completely cracked me in the face yet.

"Do you want me to spell it out for you?" I raised my voice sarcastically.

"Might as well, you're getting everything off your chest, don't stop now."

"You had a very traumatic past as a child and it makes it hard to admit your vulnerability."

"Oh come now, don't go being every little girl friend in a teen drama trying to get her boyfriend to open up blaming it on something retarded like that."

"It's the truth," I pressed. "Everything you are today is because of your childhood and what happened."

"You sure you want to go down this path, you will mess up your argument for me being a caring person and protecting the world."

"What do you mean?"

"Maybe I kill people because I hate the world for what it did to me. Maybe since thieves and murderers ruined my life, that's why I take it out on them. If a drunk driver killed my family, maybe I'd only kill drunk drivers? Who's to say I'm saving the world when all I am really doing is getting my own vengeance."

I snorted, "Good luck trying to convince yourself of that. That's so unbelievable."

"Is it though," Squall narrowed his eyes. "It sounds pretty spot on to me. I hate the world, so I kill people."

"You were a cop."

"I quit because it was restricting me. If there was a war at the time, I'm sure I would've been leading that."

"I don't believe that either," I crossed my arms.

"I don't understand you Rinoa," Squall stressed. "Why do you hold me up like I'm some high and mighty god? That everything I do is for the good of all mankind."

I shook my head, "I don't believe that at all."

"It sure sounds like it."

"No, the opposite Squall, I believe you're just a man. You are a man that has lived a life that no one should have ever dealt with, but has never given up hope and has never faltered. You have created something amazing, I'm not saying it is morally right, but at least you're trying. You can sit here and act like you're not trying to save the world, but I know you are. I know that whenever put in the situation to either kill a person or save a person, you'd save them without hesitation."

"Is that what you really believe?" Squall snorted. "Because you're wrong, I am just a bitter and angry person with a set of skills that allows me to get out my pent up hate and get away with it."

"No you aren't, but you make yourself believe that for some reason and that is what I don't understand…why do you torture yourself? What do you make yourself believe the world is bad?"

"The world is shit and the people that inhabit it are filled with shit."

"Again," I pressed. "You don't believe that at all. I know you don't, you are just angry and you have the right to be. What you've gone through in your life is unbelievable, even the very thing today you just survived. I don't know how you do it. I would've given up hope long ago; I kind of did truthfully until you woke me up to the real world. All seven of us are here because of something bad in our pasts and we are all doing good things because of it. Squall, you are the one that makes us believe in the good we're doing and now it seems like you don't believe your own words."

"I don't, why would I? I'm not naïve enough as you guys to believe them. Neither is Seifer, don't think everyone is different except me."

"You are different Squall," my voice was softening. "It's okay to admit you're mad at your life and I know you are. You're so frustrated with everything and that's fine, but don't pretend you're getting revenge or your trying to get back at the world."

"Why do you care what I say my reasons are?" It came out as a genuine question and it was a good question.

"Because I don't want you to become what you're trying to become. I'm afraid if you keep thinking along these lines you will become that person. You will not care about collateral damage anymore and you will just kill people to do it, not to indirectly help someone else but just kill to…kill." I can't imagine someone thinking along those lines and I was telling Squall this to stop him from becoming that.

"It's too late," Squall's voice was stern, "When my parents died and my sister was taken, probably raped and thrown in a ditch, I woke up to the real world. I have been alone my entire life and I have lived knowing these facts."

"You aren't alone." I begged. "Please Squall you aren't, we are all here for you…I'm here for you. You can talk to me."

"What is with you and talking?" Squall laughed bitterly. "I don't want to talk, I have no interest in it. Do you understand that I keep saying I grew up by myself? That means I deal with things by myself and it always works out. I survived."

"That is surviving Squall, but that's not living," I told him seriously. "Yes you survived past the most horrible of instances, including today, but you are not living a true life yet, and I'm afraid you never will at this rate. You cannot keep convincing yourself that everyone is bad and out to get you. Nor can you continue to believe that's why you do this job."

"I do this job because the world is a terrible place and I am just another terrible person in this world. There is no other reason, I'm sorry but a simple conversation with you isn't suddenly going to change my entire view of life."

"I know that," I stepped up to him and placed a gentle hand on his arm and smiled. "I don't want you to suddenly become this super nice guy who takes on vows like a priest. What I want is you to understand that there is good in this world, and we do what we do to make sure those good people can survive in the chaos. We don't kill because we enjoy it, not because God told us too, nor for the adrenalin it brings. We kill because there are people, truly wicked people that deserve only death and we do what others are too afraid to do. We sin and commit wicked acts in hope that those that are good and deserve good fortune don't sully themselves with what must be done. We allow the world to hate us and risk our lives, so others can live happily."

"Wow…" He let out a genuine chuckle. "I created a monster."

I smiled sweetly and stepped back. "You've taught me well and I just want you to understand."

"Okay, okay."

"One more thing…I'm glad you're alive."

He didn't respond to that probably because of how cheesy it was.

I stretched my arms out and held them open.

"What are you doing?" He inquired.

"I'm waiting for you to hug me."

"….what?"

I curled my hands motioning him towards me. "After a near death experience you're supposed to run into the house, hug me and shout how you need me in your life." I wrapped my arms around myself tightly, "And then we had this big fight too, oh man the hug will feel so good." I opened my arms back out for him to accept them.

He snorted, "You're fucking insane."

"Hug me or I hug you, one way or the other…someone's getting fucking hugged."

He crossed his arms and turned his head away. I figured that was my perfect opportunity so I closed the gap and embraced him as tight as I could. I pressed my face as hard as I could deep into his chest. I felt my nose crushing but I didn't care. He placed his hands on my shoulders and tried hard to push me away but I didn't budge.

"You're weird."

"I can feel you Squall," I muffled into his chest. "I feel your body, I can feel you breath. I can feel you because you're here and you're alive. Please Squall, just hug me and feel, okay?"

It took him a moment but he stopped resisting and soon I found his arms wrapped around me too. Then, after another moment his arms tightened. I knew after everything that happened to him today he needed this.

I lifted my head so my chin rested on his chest so I could look up at his face. "You're alive, okay…we'll find him, and everything will be fine. But please, don't shut yourself out from us, we need you to be here, we need you to be yourself, you can't fight this alone okay…we need you… I need you." I lowered my head back to his chest.

I felt his hand move and it landed on my head. I heard him chuckle, "God you're fucking dramatic, you know that?"

I laughed happily and nodded.

"I lost my temper, you know I do that, it's nothing new."

"That's not true. This was different, this wasn't a near death experience like an almost car accident or when somebody shoots and you can hear the bullet fly past your head. This was scary okay, I'll admit it, I was scared for you."

"Well it's over now."

"Take me seriously."

"I never take you seriously."

"Squall, please, I want whatever dumb shit going on between us to be over. You're alive, you have to understand what that means."

He pushed me away from him and I looked up at him sadly. He didn't sound angry anymore but he didn't sound okay. However, when I looked up and saw him smiling genuinely at me I couldn't help but smile back. He released me from his hold and took a couple steps back.

"I will try and open – fuck it I'm not trying anything," He smirked and patted me on the head. "Now get out of my room please, I just want to sleep."

I giggled because I knew even if he wasn't going to change his views or start opening up, he knew I cared. I didn't expect him to suddenly tell me his life story, but it was open knowledge now that I was always there to talk to, which I'm sure he figured before. Still, I like to believe I did help make it just a little more clear that I'm always free.

I walked to the door and opened it but made sure to look back at Squall. He stood there, hard to read as ever, but I felt strangely content with it. He was alive and that's all that mattered. Better yet, I seemed to clear up any tension we had previously. We had a good shouting match and now we will bond again, I've seen it millions of times before and no doubt it'll happen this time. Overall…I am just glad I can look into his room and see him standing there. I didn't have to watch as his body got pulled out of the rubble or visit him in a hospital. He was alive and alright just plain as day. Any mental turmoil and other problems can be solved eventually. We will find this Blaine guy later on, we can do everything else tomorrow. For right now, I almost want to cry out of sheer happiness to see Squall alive and to see – only for a brief moment – his genuine self when he hugged me. It gives me hope to know he isn't lost forever and to know that even if he has his extreme rough patches. There is still an escape from his prison of a terribly harsh life. He saved me and now it was my turn to save him.

So I shut the door while smiling because he is safe in his room and I hold his image in my mind as the door completely closes not wanting to think of anything else than him at the moment.

I tell myself I don't love Squall…

And I smile to myself because it is the biggest lie I've ever said.

* * *

**I'm not dead yet.**


	19. Terror

**This Chapter is kind of done in three parts and they don't really mesh well together at all. Mostly because I kept changing what was going to be in this chapter and I finally settled for this. The beginning is one day, the middle is the general summary of what has been happening recently, and then the last part is another day. All common sense would put the summary first, but i didn't because i live on the edge. **

* * *

**Rinoa's POV**

**March 10****th**

The man took two badly aim shots at us with his handgun. He then fled around the corner.

Squall, Seifer, Zell, Irvine, Selphie and I were the ones out this night. Only Quistis stayed back at the apartment. As the time went on in our battle with Blaine, we needed Selphie to use a gun more and more. This was one of those times. We were on the eighth floor in an office building in the middle of the city, it was passed two in the morning. Squall planned this raid for days and days. There was one man here that we believed to be connected to Blaine. Our hope is to grab that man and interrogate him to discover Blaine's whereabouts. It seems Squall's leads were right since the man has protection. He uses the equipment in this modern office to help Blaine with his cyber necessities. That's good for two reasons. It means Blaine isn't a total expert with computers if he hires outside help, and also nerdy computer guys are always quick to crumble in interrogations. As long as we catch him, we can put a stop to Blaine, which we _really_ need to do. The protection the man has could be slightly troubling but Squall expected this as well, and if there is one thing I know. Squall's plans _never_ fail, all we have to do is listen to him.

"Disconnect the wires," Squall ordered and we all went about the task. We repelled in and smashed through the windows. Real _Mission Impossible_ shit. It was pretty badass, caught four guys off guard, including our target, Christopher. We managed to kill the three guys but Chris ran away and more bodyguards came and saved him. Which is more proof that we are on the right track since this office building wouldn't be full of people this late at night.

I unhooked the wire from myself by opening the carabiner attached to my belts. No black cloaks tonight, honestly we were using them less and less. They kept getting in the way since they were so loose and big. Against any old thugs they were fine. Especially, when the main purpose of the cloaks was to frighten and intimidate. When it came to specific hits that would require lots of physical skills, they weren't that helpful. This time we all wore tight black clothes and dark jeans. Again, real _Mission Impossible _shit. I felt like a super spy, but this is what it took to complete this mission. Blaine was the real deal and we needed this guy. Blaine also knows that so he will have him under the most intense protection.

"Walk forward slowly," Squall announced stepping in the direction the man disappeared. "Check the surrounding, they could be hiding."

We did as ordered. Squall walked in the front, Seifer watched the right, Irvine the left, Zell and Selphie in the middle, while I brought up the rear. We were doing this professional style, we went over this task countless times to get our strategy down.

"They regrouped and are waiting for us around the corner." Squall didn't say it as a possibility, he was stating a fact. His insight was incredible. I've seen him do this before. He will predict the actions of everyone in this entire building and it will work without fail until we get our man.

"To avoid the obvious ambush we head into conference room C," Squall nodded towards it and we followed. "It connects with the break room," Squall opened the door which did indeed lead to the break room. "This then leads to Conference room B," Squall opened a second door which led into another conference room. "We exit out the right door." Our group stayed in close formation as Squall opened it casually and strolled out. There was no fear of enemies, he had everything down in his mind; there would be no surprises.

"Across the hall into the storage area." He was right again, and we found ourselves in a room with shelves and boxes. It was small just for this floor, so people wouldn't have to go all the way to the basement for supplies. "It is long and narrow, which will lead to another door at the other end." It did, and we walked out of it. Still not a single bad guy in sight. "We enter into room 817."

Once we all entered the room, I shut the door and Squall pointed at the wall opposite of the door. "We line up our weapons and begin shooting. All the enemies are lined up on the other side of this thin wall. Zell, Selphie, you two wait three seconds after we shoot then shoot at the ground, they will drop down to be safe, but they won't be. Do not shoot more than three yards to the right, Chris won't be any closer than that."

Six people, a total of eight handguns and two shotguns. There was no chance any person was surviving on the other side of the wall. If there was anyone, but I learned to never question Squall, he was always right, he just _knew_ somehow. I had no doubt in my mind that on the other side of this wall there were a dozen guys all waiting to ambush us.

Looks like they got it backwards.

We unloaded all at once, each one of us shot directly in front. After all our clips ran out, we reloaded and then began slowly shifting around the wall. Any part of the wall that seemed untouched was instantly filled with bullets. Then, we doubled back in case there was a person left alive. Selphie and Zell, with the shotguns, aimed low and took out anyone that was lying down to try and avoid the pistol fire. It may have felt like forever, but in reality we probably only shot for a minute, tops.

After we all stopped we could hear groaning…Squall was right, as excepted. We could see the blood stained hallway through the large holes in the previously separating wall.

"Seifer and I step through the wall while the rest go around to make sure no one is around the corner." Without hesitation Squall and Seifer stepped through.

I quickly led the second group back out the door and around the corner. There was no one there and when we reached the hallway it was hard to swallow. Eight guys laid on the ground dead and three more were alive but barely. Seifer quickly put a bullet in each of them. Selphie was finding this a little too gruesome and hid her head into Irvine's chest.

"Where's Chris?" I asked.

"Chris is not here," Squall squatted down for a moment and looked at something on the ground. "He ran for his life, here is his piss from him wetting himself." He stood back up. "We press onward after the man."

"Give Selphie a breather," Irvine argued.

"No time, not part of the plan," Squall countered as we kept walking. "Drag her if you must but do not fall behind."

Irvine growled but knew not to disobey Squall. With many reason besides the only real reason was certain death in this enemy invested building without him. He pressed Selphie forward forcing her to step in the puddles of large crimson accumulating on the floor. I walked through without fear, I've seen enough blood where it didn't faze me. It's gruesome, but the scent didn't even burn my nostrils anymore. Iron was just another sent like apples and oranges to me now.

We found ourselves walking down a narrow hallway with many shut doors on either side. We got back in our formation following Squall at the front.

"A man heard the gunfire and is hiding in a room in this hallway. Based on the unnatural curve of the hairs on the rug – from where his foot turned sharply to hide – he is in room 824. We now pass room 824, so he thinks we are unsuspecting of him. He exhales, happy to be alive, but realizes if Blaine learns he hid, he's a dead man anyways. Thoughts cascade through his mind as he tries to decide. He thinks since we passed he has a chance, and decides to take it, in three, two, one-"

On Squall's exact mark a door flew open behind us but I was already on it. I put a bullet straight in his head and he fell down dead.

"-But he is met with a bullet between the eyes," Squall finished. "We continue walking down the hallway and take a right since the left only loops back around. Chris is trying to get as far away as possible."

Our group did as Squall commended and we took the right. It led down another hallway which had more doors. There were branches off this hallway but Squall told us to keep going straight.

"Chris has made it too the other side of the building, and tries the elevator, but its taking too long so attempts to go down the stairs. However, two days prior Seifer placed a bag of phosphine, oil, and gasoline underneath the stairs with a switch lighter. He presses it now," On Squall's word Seifer flicked a small switch he was keeping in his pocket.

We didn't hear anything but we didn't except too, it wasn't a bomb just a highly flammable gas to block the stairs momentarily. The gasoline and oil would help prevent the stairway passage even more since they would linger on the ground.

"We quicken our pace," Squall began jogging and the rest of us followed. "Chris quickly darts down the other way, now worried we have the whole place to blow. In doing so, two more guys arrive to help him. They like to smoke so they hide out in the back but after all this commotion they come running. They both have brand new AK-47's and can't wait to use them. As we turn this corner we are faced with them."

Wait, what?

It was too late, we all turned the corner and there – just as Squall predicted – were two men with full-automatic guns aimed at us. I could see Chris standing behind them, he looked nervous but happy that we were finally stopped. The two men raised their guns smiling gleefully as they did. I would've raised mine but Squall made everyone swear to only shoot on his commend. He wanted this job clean and precise, which meant no free will action. This is the time when my will is put to the test.

"Throw down your weapons!" One shouted.

"Don't listen," Squall told us, "Walk forward."

He stepped closer to them and out of habit of listening to his every command, I followed him unwavering. The rest did as well, but had slight more uncertainty.

"Fine, die then." One man snorted and I watched as he pulled the trigger…but nothing happened. He looked at his gun and tried again but still nothing. The other man tried as well, but his gun didn't shoot either.

"They bought the new weapons three days ago and have been waiting to use them, but haven't fired them yet. If they did, they would've realized that no firing pin was installed upon the sale. I am aware of this because Seifer made the sale."

Ingenious…purely a mastermind of work, to plant unusable weapons into the place we would raid.

"Our cowboy cracks off two long-distance but perfectly aimed shot."

Irvine wasted no time to end both men right there. Their life-less bodies clumped unnaturally to the ground. Chris' looked horrified and quickly darted down the hallway.

"We more forward once again," Squall cited. "Now Chris reaches another decision, to go right or left at the end of the hallway. However, he hears a noise." Squall kicked over a nearby cart of supplies, spilling it all over the floor. The metal cart made a large crash as well when it hit the ground. "The sound scares him, and since he's left handed he looks over his left shoulder. This causes him to face the left hallway, and worried we are catching him, darts down it. Again, must hurry to catch him on the homestretch."

We quickened our pace and chased after him. We took the left where Squall predicted Chris did. The hallway only had three doors in it, two on the side and one at the end.

"He's in the center one," Squall smirked. "Everyone be tough, and we'll easily muscle him, maybe he'll even tell us what we want to know right here."

"That would be great," Seifer laughed, "No need to drag his ass out of here."

"Lazy as ever Seifer," Zell taunted.

"Fuck you."

"Shut up," Squall hissed, "Be serious."

We reached the door and Squall was the one to open it. He whipped it open. "Well Christopher, looks like your luck ran out."

"Other way around."

We were met with a room full of men with weapons, all aiming straight at us. The fear that strikes your heart when you find yourself in this situation is unexplainable. Maybe like when a person thinks they got on an exit ramp going onto a highway, in the wrong direction. Your body is calm and relaxed, and then your heart just _thuds_ so loudly. All your senses are awakened as your blood rushes through your body. Your mind begins cranking out every thought imaginable, any possible way to get out of this situation. But there isn't time to analyze any of them, you have to act instantly or you're dead. Your adrenalin is shooting throughout you making you react so fast, the world seems slow.

Squall slammed the door shut and we all turned tail and ran. A second later the building erupted in gunfire. "Stay near the walls!" Squall shouted. I glanced over my shoulder to see the door being ripped off its hinges with a stream of bullets. "The walls are soundproof in these offices!" That meant they were thicker, they didn't stop every bullet, but it was much stronger than the wall we shot through earlier.

We were running back the way we came and the two other doors in the hallway both opened. They were trying to pincer us into this hallway. Seifer was close enough to the right door where he was able to body slam it. It slammed into the person opening it, which pinched his arm in the doorway. Seifer grabbed his automatic weapon and aimed behind us. A man stepped out of the left door and Zell slid low. He grabbed his legs and threw the man over himself. The man was sent straight at Irvine. He side stepped while he shoved his pistol into the flying man's gut and shot one bullet straight into his chest.

We turned the corner and kept running.

"I don't understand." I heard Squall say to himself.

"It was obviously an ambush," Seifer yelled.

"Stairs!" I shouted.

"On fire!" Seifer yelled.

"If we can't take the stairs then this will be the fastest." Selphie suggested.

We reached the elevator and Selphie pushed the button.

"Wait!" Squall exclaimed, "If the elevator isn't on our floor that meant Chris never pushed the button, which doesn't make sense because he would've tried it when running away from us."

"It was obviously a set up, he wasn't really trying to escape," Seifer snapped back as he shot down the hallway to keep the pursuers back around the corner.

The elevator reached our floor and the bell beeped signaling its arrival.

"Get away from the doors!" Squall screamed.

I grabbed Selphie and shoved her to the ground. I dove on top of her as I felt an incredible heat sail over us. My ears rang loudly as I looked over my shoulder to see the two elevator doors blown off and sailed into the office. Even if my ears ringing I could hear the elevator slam into the ground floor. Honestly, I even felt it a little, a resonating thud shot throughout the building.

"Is everything booby-trapped!" Zell yelled.

"Let's get back to our wires," Irvine wisely advised.

"They'll be ready for that," Squall argued, he was right about the elevator so I'm sure he was right about that. Then again…he was wrong about this entire mission apparently. "They waited for us to set the stairs on fire to trap us."

"We need to move," Seifer yelled shooting down the hallway.

"Then we go down a floor on the elevator," I told them.

"It's blown sky-high," Zell shouted back.

"It's still a tunnel from floor to floor," I called back. I didn't wait to run and jump onto one of the side wires. The bomb cut some of the steel wires but some remained. "Come on!" I shouted back.

I slid down to the next floor. I reached my foot out to the ledge. I pressed myself against the door and began prying the two doors open. It was tough and I didn't budge them at all. Seifer appeared next to me and I made room for him on the ledge. I got the right door and he took the left. Squall slid down the wire and pulled out his gun, waiting for the doors to open. We pulled them apart and Squall didn't fire, meaning he didn't see anyone. That was good news.

Seifer and I stepped out, professionally looking in opposite directions to cover each other. The rest of the crew slid down the wire and hopped out on the floor.

"Stairs?" I asked.

Squall nodded, "Let's move, we need to get to the second floor."

"Not the first?" Selphie questioned.

"You want to go out the front door?" Squall snorted, "Good luck with that."

No one else spoke as we dashed to the stairs. We opened the door and could see the fire just one floor up. The problem, some of the components to the fire were liquid, meaning the fire fell down a few stairs. Between the stair cases there was a small gap, and rain drops of fire fell in rhythm down the stories.

"Nice plan jackass," Seifer growled eyeing the fire.

"You can yell at me later," Squall hissed back, "Let's just get out alive first."

"So what's the plan?" I pressed to keep us moving.

Squall began running down the steps and we followed after him. "We parked a van in the back, if we jump out a window on the second floor, it won't be a long fall. It will catch them off guard, because I'm sure they'll be watching the doors in the front and back. We can get right in the van and take off."

"Solid plan," Zell cheered.

It would've been that is. Once we got to the second floor room that was right above the van, we peaked out the shades on the window. We could see armed men hiding in the alleyways in the back waiting for us to jump onto the van.

"Shit," Irvine cursed.

"Is this fucking serious?" Seifer hissed.

"I can't believe they planned for that too," Squall whispered astonished.

I could see him breaking so I spoke to keep us moving. "C'mon Squall, let's move. This won't work, I know you have another exit strategy."

"Alright, alright," He paced back and forth quickly. "Selphie, plant a timed charge on this window, nothing big. In fact, keep it small, just enough to break the windows." Selphie quickly went about the task as Squall kept talking. "There are dumpsters along the left side of the building. We jump in them and they will give us enough short term cover from any first shots since they are metal. Hopefully, we can get out of them quick enough, otherwise we'll be trapped."

"That doesn't sound too promising," Irvine half chuckled.

"Best we got," Squall grimaced.

After Selphie planted the small charges on the windows, we moved quickly to the rooms that were directly above the dumpsters. Squall peaked out the windows and declared he didn't see anyone.

"Okay Selphie blow the charges."

She did as directed and we heard the small explosion. In truth, the windows shattering were the loudest part. We could hear yelling from outside. They were communicating with each other about the windows, it was attracting their attention.

"We all jump now!" Squall exclaimed.

Thankfully no one hesitated to jump out of the window and land in the dumpster. Even better, we were all safe and no one was hurt from the fall. We quickly exited the dumpster and made our way down an alley. We started to breathe easier when we noticed writing on the alley's wall. Written in a sloppy red were deeply disturbing frightening words. Not for their literal meaning, but the implications held behind them.

The writing on the wall said: **The only reason you escaped out of the building is because I **_**let**_** you.**

It was terrifying to understand the meaning behind it. Blaine wrote this and the paint wasn't even wet, which meant it was done much earlier. I glanced at Squall to see his mouth agape and his eyes wide staring at it. The numerous days earlier, when Squall locked himself in his room and worked long hard hours on this plan were pointless. Squall prepared to the point of making himself sick, this was supposed to be our big break. When Squall went about the task of readying us all of this mission, he thought out every last detail to make sure it went smoothly. This simple sentence on a wall put everything he did to shame. This meant that every element that Squall pained over to think of and prepare for. Blaine also thought of...down to every last detail, just like Squall but better. He knew of everything Squall did and planned around it, telling Chris to follow along with us to make us think we were winning. Then, when everything went to shit, he even knew out escape plans. He covered the van, which was impressive enough since we parked it there a week ahead of time so it would blend in and not stick out. Not only that, but this writing, on this alley meant that Blaine even knew about the dumpsters. So in the end…he did let us leave. He could've easily covered it, hell he could've had an ambush in this alley, he put this writing here because he knew he'd come through it. He knew everything we did, and more. It was horrifying and finally we were truly realizing who we were up against.

"Let's just get back to the apartment and think this through," Seifer suggested, which he needed to do to get Squall on the move. It was obvious on Squall's face that he was affected the most. He was just beat at his own game, he hasn't won against Blaine yet and this was only another loss to add to the scoreboard.

* * *

Things were not going well.

It's hard to express how much I want that statement to be emphasized. I can add the word 'really' or I could say 'really, really' to dramatically increase the meaning of the statement. Things were _really, really_, not going well. But even that doesn't give all the credit that is needed to fully understand the situation. Things were really _fucking_ not going well. That helps more, but all the same, it's hard to put it into words. I can list the stats I've been forced to memorize, that helps more. In the past three weeks that Blaine has appeared over a thousand people have been killed. Crime has increased an entire 2% in two weeks. 73% of people don't leave their houses after 7PM. All schools have constant police protection, _especially _grammar schools, since Blaine likes to target them. One out of two households now has a handgun hidden somewhere for protection. All cops work double shifts and only get one day off a week. Swat teams are on constant alert and full dress for any situation. The city has been placed under an alert system to warn everyone in case the situation worsens. The city is days away from being placed under military supervision.

So again…things were not going well.

What are we doing during all this? Trying as hard as we possibly can to find and stop Blaine and we haven't had even the slightest bit of success. All the scum in the city feeds of him like he's some kind of god, or devil in this case. We were a looming threat and a terrifying fear over every wicked person in the city. They wouldn't commit crimes afraid it would be their unlucky night and we'd find them. Now…they think we are powerless to stop anyone. Whether it's because we put our full attention to trying and stopping Blaine, or maybe because they think since it's taken so long to catch one man we no longer need to be feared. It's a serious problem because we are losing the city to evil and if it persists things will only worsen. After all our hard work to bring the city back, to give people hope…one man is taking it away.

And the worst fucking part…we can't stop him.

We've tried so many times, literally so many _fucking _times. He is nothing that we've faced before. He can predict our movements like he's reading our minds. He's the anti-Squall. Squall is always the one with a plan down to the very single step of success. Blaine is the exact same way, he is always one step ahead of us and this includes Squall. Blaine will blow up a bus using a cell phone, Quistis will track the phone to a location. We all run to that location, he's got an ambush waiting for us, but we know that so we sneak around the back. And in the back he has the place booby-trapped and rigged to blow. He doesn't care if he kills all his scummy friends along with us. Point is, any move we make, he always has another plan put in place before we even truly know what's going on.

We get close, we see him so many times personally, but we can never get a clear shot. Not because he's hiding, but because he always has a hostage set up in case he gets into a tight spot. He'll have a bomb jacket on a little girl with a dead man's trigger in his hand. A dead man's trigger is a remote trigger for a bomb that goes off if the button is released. He keeps his thumb down on the button and if we shoot him, his thumb will come off and the bomb with explode. If that wasn't bad enough, he's just as skilled as any of us. Obviously he is an explosives expert and actually military trained, far better than Selphie. He knows how to hot wire cars and drive expertly. He knows multiple escapes routes from all points in the city. So far he seems to be just as good as Quistis with computers, able to block her hacking a lot of the time, or worse, lead her down a fake trail. That Chris person was a complete false trail, all computer techniques are done by him, he just used Chris as bait which we fell for. He knows how to fight and shoot a gun that is on our level if not better. The only people who are better than him is Irvine and shooting and Zell at fighting. Even so, he doesn't slip up and ever give us an opportunity to capitalize.

He's got a dollar on a string and every time he shows us the dollar we all jump for it, then he pulls the string making us all look like fools.

Squall is taking it the worst. He never gets outsmarted and he never fails. Blaine is putting him through a torture chamber. Constantly crumbling all of Squall's plans and making him feel like a failure. Squall is trying to remain objective and be stern, but he's weakening. We all can see it. He shouts in pure frustration every time he sees Blaine get away. I've woken up to him and Seifer piss poor drunk at the table looking like absolute wrecks. Squall locks himself in his room with a white board just trying to figure out a way to beat Blaine and nothing has come to him yet. All we can do is wait until Blaine baits us again and then catch him. It hasn't worked yet and I'm seriously starting to worry if it will ever work.

I've spent sleepless nights wondering what will happen if we never catch him. Truthfully, that's not even what's worrying me anymore. I'm really starting to fear that we are going to lose someone in the group. It's come so close so many times. Zell stumbling through a door rigged with bombs, Irvine being left in a room to get a good sniping angle, but Blaine has someone watching the window to snipe Irvine. Irvine is missing the top part of his right ear. He just ducked away in time for the bullet to only rip through the cartilage in his ear. He keeps his long hair and hat over it so no one can see it but we know it's more an emotional scar than physical. He was beat at his own game. I often catch him staring off into the distance touching his right ear. Selphie almost took a knife in the side if it wasn't for a handgun hidden underneath her shirt to block the blade. Squall and Seifer and I? I can't even count how many times we've almost gotten killed. Not like the usual close calls where it's unlucky or we messed up. We do everything perfectly and we still just get out alive. This is the toughest situation we've ever been in and it's all putting us under an emotional strain that I'm not sure if we will be able to handle for much longer.

Again, I think Squall is taking it the worst. We all follow him, so when our plan fails and we didn't mess it up…that meant it wasn't a good enough plan. None of us say this and I know none of us really believe this, but all the same, Squall takes it personally. Blaine sought him out and openly challenged him…and Squall's losing. This just…it just doesn't happen. I don't know what to do, I've tried coming up with my own strategies or ideas but nothing worthwhile comes to me. It isn't like Squall is coming up with half assed ideas either, his plans of action are ingenious sometimes, but all the same they just don't work. It bothers me so much because I don't understand. We always succeed and never get stopped like this, so why now? How come this one guy who came out of nowhere is beating us so badly? No matter what we do, we just fail.

Blaine right now is just…the better man.

Blaine does this other thing… it is bad enough that he just beats us so easily and can get away with anything. But he doesn't want money or drugs. He doesn't even seem to want to be infamous. He just wants to mess with people's minds. That's the most terrifying part, he has no reason for what he does. He does it…just because. I cannot fully wrap my head around someone so twisted as that. He doesn't mess with only us, every person in the city is susceptible to his mind games. He does these broadcasts, he said he'll do one a week and it airs every Sunday. So there have only been three so far but three is enough. I want to vomit just thinking about the first one. It's filmed and posted onto a website that is so digitally protected that a government computer worker can't hack it _and_ Quistis can't. The news shows these broadcasts but when they get too violent they have to stop showing it. It was horrible watching them. We were helpless. We could only sit on the couch and stare in pure terror at what was unfolding in front of our eyes. Quistis tried desperately to shut it down or find the location of the camera, but like before, it was too well protected. She looked so hurt by the fact she couldn't do it, she could always do it.

Well…failure is steadily becoming something we're use to and I _hate_ it.

The first broadcast, Blaine warned the world before so we all knew it was coming. We waited on the couch ready for anything, or so we thought, but truthfully…how could anyone be ready for this…

"Good evening everyone," Blaine's face appeared on the TV, it was a close-up so he was the only thing we could see. His long braided grey hair and his deep murderous crimson eyes. "TV shows these days are all garbage, they don't teach you anything they simply entertain. Well, I'm here to help us all think a little bit. Since this is my first of many airings, I figured I'd start with something we can all understand and relate to…choices."

"What is his game plan?" Irvine questioned out loud.

"I don't know," Squall answered. "We'll find out soon, any luck Quistis."

"No," She answered, her eyes glued to her laptop screen. Squall had his own laptop on his lap with the live stream over the internet, in case the news cut away, we'd be able to keep watching on the laptop.

Blaine smiled before continuing. "Now the choices we make are what truly decide who we are, however, most people never make a choice that really matters. I like Coke not Pepsi, I'll go to this college not that one. I'll drink this beer or I'll play this sport. Those choices don't mean anything and whenever we have to make a hard choice, many times people can't do it. I'm sure some of you have heard of this little hypothetical: If shooting a child could save a hundred people, would you do it?"

He paused which was the time people were suppose to wonder if they could or not. After a moment or two he continued. "That is a utilitarianism belief, the best action is the one that has the most overall good. Killing a child will save more people, it's a matter of numbers. It sounds hard but doesn't it make sense? Would it make sense to allow one child to live and have a hundred people die? Let's think about a hijacking incident on a plane. If hijackers plan on crashing a plane into a building, and the passengers rise up and crash the plane to prevent it's collision with a building…is that not heroic? Is that not the same general idea that saving the most overall people is the best course of action? Now these are indeed hard questions people hate to ask."

"This is going to get bad very soon," Squall solemnly told us all.

"I know many people out there are saying that no matter the circumstances they'd never take someone else's life even if it would save more people in the end. Let's say for example you control the switch to make a train change the course. It can either go left or right. On the left track there are five people, and on the right track there is only one person. It is currently heading towards the left, where there are five people. Wouldn't any sane person pull the lever to switch the train to the right track where there is only one person? Most would say yes, kill one to save five. But some people are out there that say they wouldn't pull the lever because they don't want the death of one person on their hands. If they don't do anything, five people die but in their mind they technically didn't _do_ it. Which brings up another question, does an omission of a decision still count as making a decision? See, I personally believe that even those people that say they wouldn't do anything, would – if put in the situation – in fact, do _something. _Even if they say they aren't killers.

"That's fair, some people just aren't killers and that's okay. You can tell yourself you'll never have to make that choice and maybe you won't…but what if you have to some day. What if you see someone with a bomb strapped to them about to walk into a building. If you can attack the man and blow the bomb up sacrificing yourself before he gets near people, is that not the best course of action? Again, this is all utilitarianism in general. Whatever does the most overall good is the best course of action to take. I think most of you would now agree, since at first many would be skeptical about killing a child to save more, but when it comes to the plane or suicide bomber or train, more people could see how it makes sense."

Blaine smiled again to the camera. "Well, that's the hypothetical. Let's put it to the test."

"Oh god," Squall must've known exactly where this was going.

Blaine stepped away from the camera to reveal a room. The room was empty except for three chairs, and in those three chairs were three people. In the middle was a woman that looked to be in her thirties and on either side were two children. A girl on her right and a boy on her left, they looked to both be around five or six. It was easy to see this was a mother with her two children. They were all duck taped to the chair with duck tape over their mouths as well.

Blaine walked behind the mother and ripped off the duck tape. It was easy to see the woman was crying the entire time but she remained strong for her kids.

"Tell them everything will be okay," Blaine said as if it was a suggestion.

"Its okay kids," She told them with a broken voice. "Everything will be okay."

I wanted to cry just watching this. This wasn't some show or news broadcast from across the seas, this was happening right now, live, in this very city.

"That's sweet," He smiled. "Now, Beth, I presume you were listening to what I was just talking about."

"Y-yes," she answered, then added after. "Just let us go…we did nothing wrong."

"I will let you go, don't worry," Blaine answered her which seemed to surprise he greatly.

"R-really?"

"Yes, I promise on whatever you believe the most." He chuckled. "You only have to answer one little question for me."

"…what is it?" Her eyes looked towards Blaine with hope, pleading to actually make it out alive.

"What child do you wish to take with you?"

Selphie squeaked clasping a hand over her mouth.

"Quistis," Squall growled.

"I-I can't find anything," Quistis' fingers were speedily gliding over the keys in desperate attempt to find the location. I glanced at her screen to see it flashing with code and numbers. Quistis was trying her best but it still wasn't working.

"What do you mean?" The mother asked.

She knew exactly what he meant, we all did, she just didn't want it to be true.

"You can leave but only with one of your children, choose." Blaine said it like it wasn't a big fucking deal. Like he wasn't making a mother _choose_ a child!

"No, please," The mom started shaking her head, tears began streaming down her face. "Please, no, I can't, please don't, please!"

Blaine walked over to each child and ripped the duck tape off their mouths. They were crying before but now with the duck tape gone, it filled the room and pierced our ears through the TV. Begging for their mom and for them to be safe.

"Here's what's going to happen," Blaine walked off the screen for a moment before coming back with a plastic gallon milk container, except it was filled with a clear liquid. He knelt down in front of the mother. "You will choose one child to leave with or…I will dump this gasoline on your children and set them ablaze in front of your eyes." The mother screamed terror hearing this, begging with everything she had for it not to be the case. "If you choose one, I will shoot that child and they won't feel a thing it will be over so fast. But if you wait…I will kill them both slowly and you will have to watch."

"God no!" She cried out, tears and snot falling into her mouth as she strained against the chair. Her wrists starting to bleed from the strain she was putting on them. She shook wildly trying anything to get herself free. "Please, I can't! Don't do this! Please, I'll do anything! Please, don't! _Please!"_

"Choose!" Blaine yelled. "You have five seconds. Think like a utilitarian, it's just numbers. Save one or be fair and lose two, your choice."

"No!" She continued to yell. "Please, I can't! You can't make me! I can't! Don't Please!"

Blaine dumped the flammable liquid over both children. They shook wildly in their chairs and coughed from the strong toxins getting to their sense. "Five…four…"

"NO!" The mother shouted struggling as hard as she could to break free to protect her children. The blood flowed faster as she pulled as hard as she could against the duck tape. "Don't, I beg you! Please, please!"

Blaine lit a lighter and lowered it closer to the crying girl. "Three…two…"

"Ginny I'll take Ginny!" The mom cried out and as soon as she said it Blaine turned flicked the lighter closed. The mom instantly began sobbing uncontrollably in shock of what she just said and what decision she just had to make. No sound was coming from the sobs, as her head tipped all the way back in agony. I'm sure she couldn't breathe and her mind was tearing itself apart after hearing the words leave her lips.

"Very well." Blaine pulled out the gun.

"Brian it'll be okay," She told her son, looking at him one last time. "It'll be okay, just look at mommy."

The TV flashed back to the news room where Brenda Bree, the news anchor, sat at the deck with a hand covering her mouth. She looked horrified and on the verge of tears and one did manage to trickle its way down her face. She didn't speak, I know she was suppose to because she ripped her earpiece out, which would've had her producer telling her to speak. She just sat there in silence making us all who watched her, sit in silence as well. Brenda didn't want us to instantly forget what we just saw, she didn't want to start talking about it. She wanted everyone…_everyone_ to sit and seriously think about for a moment what we all just witnessed.

"I'm so sorry," Quistis spoke drawing our attention. Her lips began quivering. "Oh God, I'm so sorry Squall…oh God…I-."

"It's okay," Seifer wrapped her into a hug.

Selphie was crying and not bothering to hide it. She sat there, on the floor, cross-legged like she usually was, with countless tears streaming down her face. Zell sat next to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. Irvine sat with his arms crossed and his hat tipped down. I sat next to Squall and neither of us did anything. I looked at Squall and saw his stern unwavering eyes and it made me feel better. I realized that's how I needed to be, because even if it was hard on me, it would make the group stronger. We all couldn't break down every time something bad happened. So Squall and I sat there, arms crossed, staring without fickle wavering eyes at the laptop screen where the women continued to cry uncontrollably with the dead child in the chair next to her.

That was the first week, and that shows what we are really up against. He was a man that will kill a child and tear apart a mother's soul for the single purpose of messing with other peoples' minds. It was unnatural and disgusting. He was a fucking psycho that needed to be put down and we were the ones that would have to do it.

The other problem with those broadcasts is the fact that it proves he is also intelligent. Not just with military areas, but areas evolving from an academia background. He often brought up philosophical ideas that only Squall would understand or could argue against. Blaine would plan it, for Squall to get separated from our group. Once separated he'd lead Squall into a room and would literally just have a conversation with him. Squall couldn't shoot him because he'd always have a dead man's trigger. The worst part, was never knowing for certain if it actually went to anything, it could've been a total bluff but there was no way for Squall to know. So Squall had to sit there and just talk with this psycho. It always revolved around philosophy or religion, and I don't know what the point of it really was, but Squall seems to think it was too mess with his resolve, which…honestly might be working.

* * *

**March 18th**

But that's all in the past, currently Squall and I are running down a hallway in a warehouse. We know Blaine is in here somewhere. He led us here, we know he did but we'll take the bait because it's the only time we ever confront him. Irvine and Selphie are waiting with hidden cars. They can't stay in the open but we need people behind the wheel ready for a quick getaway. Zell and Seifer are somewhere else in the warehouse, we split up hoping to rendezvous at some point. The other problem, Blaine has a way of attracting all the street scum to work for him, so it is never just us chasing him. Even this warehouse is filled with guys that are basically given a gun and told to shoot us, which they gladly accept because what criminal doesn't hate us.

We reached an intersection of connecting hallways.

"Which way?" I asked.

"This way," Squall nodded down one of them.

"Why?"

"Because I just saw someone attempting to hide, meaning they're protecting this way."

"That means it's an ambush, we should double back, we know the route," I suggested.

"No, he'll want us to do that, we'll go straight," He stood firm on that decision.

"Squall we won't make it, these could be dozens of guys down there." I grabbed his jacket sleeve forcing him to look at me. "Let's be smart about this."

"No," He shook his arm from me. "You stay here and see if anyone comes from the other hallways to get behind us."

"Are you fucking kidding?" I hissed. "That's your plan? It's suicide."

Squall closed his eyes, "Have faith Rinoa." He began walking down the one hallway which was lined with suspicious crates and half opened doors. It was just screaming ambush.

"Squall!" I yelled he didn't answer so I had to follow after him, I'd be damned if I wait here and leave him alone. I drew my custom silver handguns, I wasn't messing around this time. These bullets fucking took heads off. The magazines were filled with dumdum bullets and those are the kind of bullets that literally _explode_ on impact. I can officially say I've seen a man's shoulder blow off disconnecting his arm from his body.

As lowered my breathing and walked as quietly as I could, Squall was doing the exact opposite. He was…praying.

"As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil for you are with me." A man popped out and Squall instantly put a bullet in his head. Another one pounced from behind a doorway. Squall shot him in the knee causing him to fall down where Squall put one more kill shot into his head.

"I draw these blades in the name of you my Lord," Squall continued to walk slowly down the hallway and kept praying which I was not arguing right now. "These blades of fire do your bidding of evil that shall not stain your virtuous hands, for I am your servant ever ready for your behest."

Two more men popped out with fully automatic weapons but it only takes one bullet to kill a person and Squall proved that point by putting one in each of their heads.

"No thorns or thistles shall block my path to righteousness; I will slay all the wicked serpents that attempt to drag me down."

Every person that took aim against us, was put down by Squall within a second. It was like he was possessed, he couldn't miss and he didn't fear being shot. He didn't hide cover to cover, he didn't hurry down the hallway. He walked, slowly and calmly, and no harm came to us. When he had to reload he did so quicker than I've ever seen.

"The devil cowers before God just as the wicked cower before virtue. Evil flees at the sight of God's army and I shall be the deliverer of his will."

Before I even saw a man pop out of hiding Squall already put two bullets in him.

"Come! Face me, and fall!"

Squall killed them all, I never even had to fire my gun. Squall shot and killed every person in that hallway and left a trail of death behind us. That wasn't the most surprising part, that part was when we came out of that hallway, we walked through a door and we bumped right into Blaine. He looked genuinely surprised too.

Squall riffled shots off but Blaine ducked low under Squall's arm before rising and skillfully disarming him. I haven't seen Blaine this up close yet and I can see why he's intimidating. Built like Seifer but tall like Irvine, and easily disarmed Squall. That was almost impossible. What made it worse was how he took apart the gun within a couple seconds. Before I could even attempt a shot he dashed behind a door and shut it. We heard a lock slide into place. Squall rammed against it but the door was steel and didn't budge.

"You actually went down that hallway?" He yelled from the other side of the door, "I'm impressed! I didn't account for that, congrats you outplayed me this time."

It wasn't a compliment, after so many confrontations and this small victory was nothing to celebrate. Especially after we didn't even shoot him and now he's behind a locked steel door.

"Well, I know when it wouldn't be safe to continue here, I'll be leaving now." Blaine called and we could hear footsteps getting fainter on the other side of the door.

"Shit!" Squall yelled. "He's fucking getting away."

"He's safe, that's for sure," I said. He was, one little thing goes wrong, one tiny factor he didn't account for, and he cuts his entire plan. That's smart, that's what we do, or it's what we did do until everything went wrong with Blaine.

"Fuck!" Squall yelled banging on the door. "Where's Zell and Seifer, they have explosives?"

"Squall maybe we should call this a win?" His head whipped to look at me and he looked pissed but I wasn't going to back down. "Look, whatever his plan was, it didn't work, we stopped him, before something bad happens we should pull out. That ambush we just walked through, that was impossible, we were lucky. Zell and Seifer might be in far more trouble than that."

"Heartily if you can make it here I can make it here." We both snapped our necks to see Seifer casually walking up to the door.

"Where's Zell?" Squall asked.

"He's back fighting some guys, they jumped us but luckily it's all close range. Zell's taking them all out, I ran ahead because I saw Blaine, figured I could slow him down until you guys caught up."

"He's in there," I nodded at the door.

"Well nothing these can't handle," Seifer pulled out high-level C4, once Blaine appeared we made Selphie go out and get real explosives and not just homemade kitchenware.

"Sometimes I actually kinda like you Seifer," Squall smirked.

We watched as Seifer put the C4 on the two spots where the hinges would be. He followed the instructions Selphie told him before, attaching the wires into the clayish material.

"Rinoa." I looked towards Squall. "Go and help Zell, I know he can handle himself, but I don't want to take chances. I don't like being in pairs but I like it even less if he is by himself."

"Especially Zell," Seifer added always ready to add a snide comment no matter the circumstance.

"Especially Zell," Squall affirmed causing Seifer to snort a quick laugh.

"I don't want to leave you." I told him seriously.

"It's okay, the faster you find Zell and get back, the faster you get to us." He touched my chin softly, it was random but felt right.

Normally, I'd stand here and whine and complain for a while. But that's not who I was anymore, I listened to my orders and I could think rationally in situation like this now. And Squall was making the right decision, it would be for the best for me to look for Zell.

"Okay fine," I finally answered. "I'll be right back, don't do anything stupid."

"Only using C4 for the first time, what's stupid," Seifer responded.

"Seriously." I looked at Squall.

"We will, you too."

I turned and began jogging down the hallway which would lead me to Zell.

* * *

**Squall's POV**

I watched Rinoa run out of sight, truthfully I was happy she was. If things went right, this would be the time to take down Blaine. I wasn't sure how bad it was going to get passed this door and I know she can handle herself now, but I still feel the urge to protect her. Seifer and I are willing to do absolutely whatever is necessary passed this door to take down Blaine. If that involves us taking a kill shot while opening ourselves up for a return kill shot, that's what we'll do. The two of us decided before we left tonight that we would do whatever it takes, taking more risks than we usually will. That's why I walked down that hallway, me and Seifer know we need to take more risks to see better results. That's how I know why Seifer left Zell. Even if Zell could handle himself Seifer wouldn't leave him alone, we just don't do that. He was trying to get away from him because he is the only other person I truly trust to do what may be necessary to take down Blaine. Rinoa and Zell, their hearts will be in the right place but they won't want to risk too much, Rinoa even thought we should pull out already, just because we stopped him tonight. Stopping him tonight isn't enough, we have to permanently stop him.

I took off my cloak, I didn't want to fight Blaine in this restricting uniform. Other people I can handle, someone like Blaine I don't want to risk it. He's seen my face enough at this point it doesn't matter, he's seen Seifer's as well.

"Alright," Seifer stood up and took off his cloak as well, "It's ready."

"How big will the explosion be?" I asked.

He looked at me seriously. "Probably as big as it fucking feels like it."

"You're a dick."

"You're a bit touchy, you on your period again. I got some cranberry juice in the car."

"Just press the fucking button."

"Yeah, yeah." We walked around a corner and he pressed it.

Okay, I'll admit, I wasn't ready for it to be that big. The door flew off and smashed into the wall across from it. It stuck into it like someone threw a knife at the wall. The dust from the floor blew up all around us blocking off our line of sight and now my fucking ears were ringing.

"I fucking hate you!" I shouted.

"What! I can't hear you over your bitchiness!"

"I'm going to shoot you!"

"Wait why are you out of the kitchen?"

"What?" That one I didn't get.

"You know!" He kept shouting into my ear because we both couldn't hear. "I'm making fun of you like you're a women, and it's a sexist joke that women are in the kitchen. I'm calling you a girl basically!"

"Ah!" I shouted back.

This was fucking ridiculous. We're standing in a hallway, in a warehouse filled with people who want to kill us. We can't see because of the dust, our ears are ringing painfully, and a heavy steel door is stuck into a wall like nothing…and here we stand making fun of each other. Something's wrong with us.

"Let's get going!" I screamed.

"Ladies first," Seifer smirked and I couldn't help but smirk back.

What was passed that door? The most incredible sight I've ever seen, piles and piles of gold and hot naked women. Obviously that's a fucking lie, it was more dark barely lit hallways which led to…more dark barely lit hallways. There were a lot and let's just say we were running down them so long the ringing in our ears stopped. Well, not completely but we could hear again at least.

Finally the hallway led into a bigger more spacious room. It was a loading dock and this is where we caught up to Blaine. He was loading a box into a van. This was the second time he looked surprised to see us.

"Damn, so that explosion was from you?" He nodded seriously. "Again…I'm impressed, I didn't expect it."

Seifer and I whipped out our handguns (technically my backup one since my first was dismantled), not even going to bother wasting any time or giving him any chance. He jumped into the van and shut the door. We shot the rest of our clips into the car just in case one bullet happened to hit its mark on the inside. Once we ran out we both reloaded quickly.

"Don't let him get away!" I shouted.

Seifer sprinted up to the driver's side door and I watched as the door flew open sending him flying to his back. I charged forward shooting at the door the entire time not giving him a chance to pop out after Seifer. I thought it was a smart move until I was almost at the door and I felt an arm wrap around my neck from behind. The bastard must've crawled back through the van and went out the back door to get behind me. With one arm around my neck he used his free one to knock one of the guns out of my hand. He then reapplied his grip around my waist and flipped me over his back. It caught me off guard and I slammed hard into the ground.

It took me a second to regain my senses but I looked up to see Seifer charging Blaine who was running straight at Seifer. He had one gun in his hand, he must've lost the other one when the door hit him. He got two shots off before Blaine reached him, sadly both missed. Blaine twisted Seifer's arm like a professional forcing the blonde to release the gun. Seifer knew that was going to happen because he swept his left hand across in a powerful hook. Blaine saw it coming and used his free hand to grab Seifer's inner-elbow stopping the blow. He then slipped a foot between Seifer's feet. Seifer, a master of grappling, knew where this was going; he prevented it by lifting his foot and moving it out of the way so it wouldn't be tangled. Blaine gave two quick elbows to Seifer's rips, causing him to hunch over. While he was hunched over Blaine came down on top of Seifer's head with another elbow. This caused Seifer to crash to the floor.

I was up on my feet and charged the gray haired man. I threw a swift but weak right hand punch. It landed but since it was weak he was able just power through it. He got in close to try and tie me up. I hopped back and planted my left foot. I swung my right foot as hard as I could aiming it for his face. He dropped to his knees to get under it. I let the momentum spin me around and I faced him again. He darted towards me and reached out for my right hand with his left hand. I let him grab it but leaned back at the same time. I pulled hard with my right hand causing him to open up his right side for my left hand. My left punch is my strongest weapon, it's knocked out everyone if it lands. I swung hard in a hook hoping to catch him right in the temple. He saw it coming and tilted his head back as far as he could. The punch didn't hit his temple but his jaw instead. He fell to the ground and I hopped back.

Seifer was now back on his feet and stood behind him so we had him surrounded.

"Damn that was a powerful punch." He shifted his jaw to test if it was broken, which surprisingly it wasn't. "That could've killed me if it hit me in the right place. Hell it would've knocked my jaw off if I didn't have a steel rod running through it."

What is he a fucking cyborg this is ridiculous!

"It's over Blaine." I growled.

"Yeah, yeah don't get cliché," He waved his fingers to egg me on.

I went for it. I planted my right foot in front of me and came in throwing a strong left punch. He stepped to the side and countered with a punch straight to my face. It pushed me back and while I was back Seifer attacked. He didn't get far, Blaine knew he was coming and kicked his foot out straight catching Seifer in the gut. He hunched over from pure reaction and Blaine took advantage of it again. He slammed Seifer in the back of the head with his elbow. Seifer fell to the ground hard letting out a painful grown. It was amazing he wasn't knocked out by that. I dove at Blaine just trying to get him away from Seifer. He was much stronger than me since I didn't move him at all. It looked like I was hugging him. He unleashed an incredible right-left close quarter combo on my ribs. I felt as if at least half of them broke. I whipped my head up and caught him on the underside of the chin. It gave me another space to desperately strike back. I attempted a roundhouse kick but he ducked under it and I fell onto the ground unbalanced.

I laid next to Seifer groaning. He stood up and wobbled, he was not looking good. I forced myself onto my feet but my ribs were screaming in pain. We looked like pathetic and I hadn't been in this tough of a fight since…my entire life. This man was on another level. Seifer and I aren't amateurs and this guy is handling us both. We have two different styles, I'm fast and swift and Seifer is strong and slow. He is handling us both with ease.

Blaine strolled up to us casually, I can't believe this was fucking happening. Seifer took a blind swing at him and he easily parried it aside. He countered by slamming Seifer in the face with a jab. I wanted to kick him but my ribs would never allow me to lift my legs that high. I settled for planting my left foot and followed through with my left hand. It didn't come close to hitting him. He grabbed my arm, twisted it down so my elbow was up and my fingers were pointing to the ground. Using his free hand he landed another five solid punches into my already bruised ribs. Spit flew out of my mouth in a roar of pain. Seifer attempted to interfere but Blaine easily kicked him in the stomach – while never letting go of my arm – which sent Seifer flying to the ground. I took a swung at his head with my free right hand but he grabbed it and then head butted me. I saw black for a moment and he let me go causing me to stumble backwards. I tripped over Seifer and fell onto the ground next to him.

"Well I see you also ran into the Red Devils huh?" Blaine taunted Seifer seeing his scar between his eyes.

He saw both of our faces by now, and I know he's seen Rinoa's tonight too. It doesn't matter so much at this point, nothing we can do about it now. He hasn't alerted the cops or anything so I doubt he'll do that. Maybe he could just to mess with us some more, but I doubt that is his real plan. I bet he'll want to find out our real identities to mess with our minds more personally, that's his hobby after all. We all have dark pasts, it wouldn't be hard. Then again, Quistis makes sure we stay off the internet as much as possible. A name may help in discovering a person but only if you know what you're doing.

"What now?" Seifer spat directing it at me.

"Now you die," Blaine answered. "I know I play games but don't think I would let you two leave this place alive just so I can torment you more later. If I get the opportunity, I will finish you, and you have laid yourself out on a platter for me. Honestly, I thought you two would be better. After all the things I've heard about your hand-to-hand combat skills. This was rather sad."

I snorted, "You dumbass, we're a group, each person has a specialty."

"All the same." He pulled out a gun from the back rim of his pants.

"He had a gun on him the whole time?" Seifer cried out. "God he made us look like idiots."

"Twice I lay on a floor about to die because of you," I growled at Blaine.

"Sucks to suck," Blaine shrugged.

"I didn't die the first time, I won't die now."

I could see the confusion on his face when I said that. It was even better when his handgun was kicked out of his hand and sent flying across the room. He hopped back and got into a striking pose.

"Thank god!" Seifer cried out. "Never thought I'd be happy to see you chicken-wuss."

"Take him down," I ordered.

"Sir, yes, sir," Zell answered. He hopped back and forth staying light on his toes.

"Making this more interesting," Blaine chuckled. He dashed forward with intense speed and cocked his arm back ready to strike Zell in the face.

In a flash Zell swung his right foot high and connected with Blaine's face sending him onto the ground. Blaine looked a little stunned on the ground. He slowly stood up and stared at Zell for a moment. He shook his head and I could see Blaine cast off the last strike as a fluke. Maybe he figured he underestimated Zell too much and it won't happen again. I smiled because I knew it would.

Blaine inched his way closer to Zell this time, moving slowly and cautiously. Zell continued to bounce on his feet keeping his two hands up prepared. Blaine got within range and quickly threw a one-two punch combo. Zell easily blocked the punches and returned with a two quick jabs to Blaine's face. The gray-haired man backed up a couple steps, but soon charged with more focus will this time. He jumped and did a perfect roundhouse kick. Too bad for Blaine Zell's got godlike speed. He ducked under the kick swiping his leg across the ground slamming it into Blaine's kneecap.

The murderer fell to the ground and quickly rolled away. He got to his feet but I could already see he didn't put much pressure on his one knee. Zell knew exactly where to hit people to do the most damage. Blaine stepped forward slowly in a boxing position. He began bobbing and weaving ready for the confrontation. He got closer and threw a more complicated punch series this time. Zell's hands moved in a blur that was too fast for my eyes to catch. He countered all of Blaine's punches and after that, he completely fucking unloaded on the man. I watched with intense pride as I saw Zell beat the living shit out of that asshole. His fists landed constantly into Blaine's face and body. Blaine desperately tried to block but he was too slow and while he was guarding his body he would take a punch to the face. While he was guarding his face, Zell would've already hit his body multiple times. Zell ended it with a strong roundhouse kick to Blaine's face.

The man flew into the van and slumped to the ground. His face was bleeding terribly and I knew his ribs were hurting as bad as mine. He slowly stood up, using the van as his crutch to steady himself. He leaned against it and kept one arm draped across his stomach.

He spat and it was almost all blood. "Well…I now see the hand-to-hand combat expert of the group. I won't be underestimating him again."

"There is no again!" Zell shouted pointing a finger at him. "This ends tonight!" He whipped his hand down back to his side.

Blaine smiled. "Like hell."

He dove at the driver's side door of the van, falling to the floor just beneath it. Zell started to head towards him when he saw a gun appear in his hands. It was from before when the door hit Seifer, he must've dropped it right next to the door. Blaine took aim at Zell and fired. The martial artist was quick enough to escape, he jumped behind the van to use it as cover. Blaine took his chance and hopped into the van.

"Now Zell move after him!" I shouted from the ground.

Zell dashed around the side of the van but Blaine stuck the gun out the window. He shot randomly but Zell still had to drop to the ground to avoid the bullets. The tires screeched as the van took off. We all watched from the ground as it left the warehouse and Blaine escaped again.

"You know," Zell looked at us, "This may not feel like a win, but we stopped his plan and we beat the crap out of him too."

"Speak for yourself," I growled. "Doesn't feel like a win to me."

"This ends tonight!" Seifer shouted mimicking Zell's voice and throwing his hand out just the way Zell did. "Hey next time cut the theatrics chicken-wuss."

"I'm sorry, who saved your ass from getting killed?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Seifer laid on the ground waving an arm at Zell. "I had everything covered."

"Oh yeah, from sitting on your ass huh?"

"Hey give it a rest you too," I sighed. I attempted to sit up but it hurt too much so I laid back down.

"How are ya boss?" Zell asked walking up to me.

"My ribs took a beating, Seifer how's your head?" I rolled my head on the ground towards him.

"Little dizzy honestly," Seifer closed his eyes and opened them again.

"Zell sit him up, _slowly_," I ordered.

"Shouldn't we not move him?"

"He didn't break his neck." I explained and watched as Zell helped the other blonde sit up. "Seifer stay awake alright, keep your eyes open."

"Whatever you say."

"How many times were you hit in the head?" Zell asked.

"Three…maybe four times," Seifer answered.

"In the back of the head," I added. "You're gonna have to get a MRI tonight."

"Damn it," Seifer cursed not liking the idea of waiting in a hospital at all.

"I'm sure Quistis will take you," Zell cooed patting Seifer's leg.

"…Are you trying to give me an old fashion."

"Fuck off Seifer," Zell groaned backing away from the blonde.

I chuckled but instantly hissed after.

"You might have to go too champ," Seifer advised.

"Fuck that," I winced, "These will heal on their own, nothing I can do about it."

"I can't believe he put you two through the ringer like that," Zell sat down cross legged.

"He's better than I thought," Seifer admitted as his head dipped down.

"Siefer!" I screamed so loud my insides wanted to explode.

"Jesus what!"

"…stay awake."

"Zell help me out then."

Zell arched an eyebrow honestly curious. "With what Seifer?"

Seifer looked up and stared at Zell for about two seconds. "Okay, were good, I can never sleep after seeing your face, God it's so disturbing."

"Seifer" I sighed.

"…I hope you die," Zell growled.

"Zell," I put my warning voice on feeling a parent.

I reached into the back of my jeans pocket and pulled out a crushed box of smokes. I slipped a slightly bent cigarette into my mouth. I lit it and I wanted to breathe deeply but I couldn't. I took little drags and they weren't really to soothing.

"So now what?" Zell asked.

"We wait for Rinoa," I answered, "But contact Selphie and Irvine and tell them to pull around to warehouse number two on the east side of the bank."

"You sure that's where we are?" Zell asked and I lifted my head slightly and gave Zell a bemused glance. Zell smirked, "Fair enough, I should know not to question you by now."

"Where is the princess?" Seifer asked.

"She told me to run ahead since she knew you guys would be in close combat."

"You left her!" I exclaimed.

"Well…yeah," Zell scratched his ear with his index finger. "She was handling the people fine, she's turned into quite the assassin."

"That's what we trained her for," Seifer announced.

"Yeah…which is problematic when it comes to upsetting her now." My heart sank realizing her temper she was about to have seeing us.

"Squall!" My name rung out in a high pitched sequel from the mouth of the sprinting teenager. She dashed all the way towards us and slid to her knees at my side. Good to know she's worried about me, it's kind of sweet actually.

"It's okay, I'm fine." I smiled at her.

"You fucking idiot! You can't just constantly split us up!" She screamed punching my chest which caused me to scream in pain. "Oh my God I'm sorry, are you hurt?"

"Obviously!" I groaned, "Why else would I be lying on the ground."

"How hurt are you?" She gently touched my arm and I could see she had real worry in her eyes this time.

"Not too bad, just my ribs a bit."

I watched as she moved her hand to the bottom of my shirt. She slowly pulled it up and I winced slightly as it tightened around my waist. I need to start wearing looser shirts.

She gasped, "Squall! This is bad."

I lifted my head to look at my chest and saw countless bruises already forming.

"That's nothing, seriously I'm fine," I told her confidently.

"It's not okay," She placed her hand on my cheek, "You're lucky I sent Zell, based off your chest it wasn't going well."

"He's tough, but we'll get him."

"I know you will." She gave my hand a squeeze.

"Rinoa can you help me with something," Seifer called to her.

"Yeah, yeah sure anything." She eagerly accepted.

"Can you just fuck him already!" Seifer yelled loudly.

"Shut your fat ass up Seifer." Rinoa rolled her eyes.

Zell snickered and I groaned.

"Let's just get out of here," I suggested.

"Alright, I'll call Selphie." Zell pulled out his cell phone.

* * *

**Rinoa's POV**

That night Seifer did have to go to the hospital, Selphie took him straight from the warehouse. Besides Squall and Quistis…Selphie was definitely the next closest to Seifer. We weren't sure how that exactly worked, but it seemed like a big brother, little sister thing. Seifer always made sure to protect Selphie, which was pretty sweet of him. I think they're so close because Selphie can just bounce off of any insults that Seifer flings at her. Irvine's even admitted to seeing Selphie confine in Seifer with things that she keeps from Irvine. It's strange when you think of Seifer's personality but I think it's adorable on both parts. However, taking Seifer to the hospital for an MRI is anything but adorable. Quistis was panic-stricken when she heard and quickly rushed off to the hospital.

I helped clean Squall up which was rather difficult because of how injured he was. It was bad, his entire body was covered in bruises but I don't think any of his ribs were broken. Or if they were, they weren't pressing against the skin or into his organs which was good. You can't do anything to fix ribs except stay away from physical activity, so he's out of commission for a while. It was sad seeing him not even be able to pull his shirt off by himself. I made sure to shut the door to his room so no one else could see him in such a cripple state. I helped him lay down in his bed but he kept the covers off because he didn't want anything resting on top of him. He draped an arm over his eyes and told me to get out. Ignored that and crawled into bed next to him. I grabbed his hand and intertwined my fingers into it. I was surprised when he didn't say anything. He either didn't want to take the time to argue, or maybe he didn't quite feel like being alone. I sure as hell wasn't going to leave him alone in this state. I didn't care if I was bothering him either…but when I felt his fingers squeeze back I knew this was right.

As I was thinking before, everyone has their close call. My close call happened the next week.

* * *

**Thanks for all the reviews you guys are amazing. Please keep them coming so I know there is still interest in this story. I'm taking so long with it I feel I'm putting many of my readers off. **


	20. Strategy

**Couple things about this chapter: I basically scanned this over quickly, I'm sure it is full of mistakes but I don't really have the time to eye it line-by-line to exclude every mistake, if I did, this might've taken another couple weeks to update, so I decided to update it now instead of waiting just to make sure I get all the mistakes. That, and i hate editing. Also, this is split into two with a line break and time skip. The first half was supposed to end the last chapter but the last chapter was big enough without it. You'll understand when you read the first half and see how it ends, it would be a good end to a chapter but since it's in the middle, it seems random. So be aware of that. Enjoy.**

* * *

**Rinoa's POV**

**March 23****rd**

We were in a warehouse again, many of the warehouses surrounding the city were abandoned, especially on the port side, which made it the perfect place for Blaine to always hide out. They weren't watched or even locked down since nothing of importance was kept inside of them. Also, as per usual, Blaine rigged certain hallways to blow to separate us or maybe just kill us. Well this latest one came close, he blew the ceiling down completely blocking the path. We were all stuck on one side and he was getting away on the other. Everyone was with us on this one, except Quistis, but no one was waiting in cars. Selphie and Irvine were in the group as well.

"Now what?" Zell asked.

We all waited for the dust and debris to settle to see the wreckage obstructing our path. There was one peculiar place where two pieces of rubble leaned against each other perfectly leaving an open space.

"There's a hole," Squall noticed.

"It's small," Seifer added. "Real small."

"Zell can you fit?" Squall looked at the blonde.

He shook his head, "Maybe if we open it a bit more I could."

"Can't we double back, and loop around?" Selphie purposed.

"Too long," Squall answered, "We have to go all the way back out, this was the connecting bridge to the next warehouse. I don't think he was trying to separate us this time, I think he was honestly trying to delay us, which means we want to get there as fast as possible."

"So let's start making the gap bigger," Irvine suggested.

"Wait, I can fit," I was eyeing the hole for a while now and I could definitely squeeze through there.

"No!" Squall exclaimed.

"Why?"

"Not by yourself, it's too dangerous. Only Zell can go by himself."

"Just because you and Seifer screwed up doesn't mean I will," I challenged with heat in my eyes.

Squall and Seifer were definitely still injured. Seifer had a concussion and was trying to be careful. Squall's ribs still hurt but they weren't as bad as we once first thought. They weren't healed but he could at least move, not sprint or anything. But moving was enough for now, we needed him here with us to make these decisions.

"We didn't _mess up_," Squall hissed, "He was better, and he'll be better than you."

"Then Selphie will come with me, she'll stay back and cover me."

Squall thought for a brief moment before looking at the brunette, "Selphie…you up for it?"

Selphie took a step back and her eyes swiftly darted back and forth between me and Squall. She shook her head slowly. "I'm sorry Rinoa…I am, I just…I can't."

"Selphie, please." I really wanted to go after this fucker.

"I-I I'm-"

"It's fine Selphie," Squall cut her off and looked back to me. "You aren't going and don't force Selphie to do something she doesn't want to do, with good reason."

"Alright fine," I sighed."

"I'm really sorry Rinoa," Selphie stepped towards me and placed an apologetic hand on my arm.

"Don't worry about] it," I put my hands on her shoulders and smiled. I then strongly shoved her at Squall who caught her but winced painful from the petite girl crashing into his ribs. I quickly dashed at the wall of rubble and shoved my way right into the hole. It was tight but I got one arm through and used it to pull the rest of my body through.

"Stop her!" Squall yelled. But it was too late; I was on the other side. I looked back through the hole to see Squall glaring pure anger at me. "Rinoa...get the fuck back here right now or I swear to god I will kick you out of the apartment, I'll kick you off this team, I'll fucking-"

"Save it," I interjected, "I'm going." I sprinted down the hallway and ignored all his protests fading into the background.

As I ran down the hallway I didn't really think about anything. Not what I just did or what I was about to do. I wasn't contemplating strategies to use against Blaine either. I knew my body and training would be enough. I honestly wasn't worried at all, I was hundred percent positive that I could take down Blaine. I knew I could, hell maybe even one bullet would do the job and all this would be over. If he didn't expect any of us to get through that rubble then I could surprise him. Squall didn't want me to go to protect me, but this isn't the time to be protective. I could do this, I know I could do this. I wasn't even nervous, I trained for months for this exact reason, I was _sure_ I could do this.

I caught up to Blaine in a larger loading dock, just like the same one Squall and Seifer fought him in. I was a little too careless and slammed the door open in my rush. It alerted him instantly to my presence which sent the whole idea of surprise out the window. The next flaw was assuming he was alone. Some guy – who must've been right near the door when I entered – grabbed my arm that had my gun in it. Since I wasn't expecting it, he was able to yank the gun out of my hand. I raised my other hand which had the second gun in it. He kicked my hand sending my other gun flying. Within a matter of seconds I was completely disarmed…I couldn't believe it.

That's it, no more stupid mistakes, time to get my A-game going.

The man aimed my own gun back at me. I shoved it away and stepped in closer. I gave him a strong jab straight to his neck. He hunched over trying to catch his breath. I took advantage of the moment and put him in a hold Seifer had been teaching me. I grabbed his neck and more-or-less flipped over him, making sure to drag his neck with me. It left me sitting on my butt but with his head stuck in my arm in a headlock. He was lying straight on his back and was trying to get leverage but I leaned backwards and pulled on his head harder. I could see his face turning red as he struggled. It didn't take long since he had almost no air from the previous neck jab. When he stopped moving I made sure to hold it a little longer to make sure he was dead, I didn't need someone unconscious waking up mid fight with Blaine. When I was sure he passed, I released him and stood up.

I didn't have much time since Blaine was on me. He grabbed my arm and threw me away from my weapons. I didn't fall to the ground but stumbled for a moment before getting my balance. I quickly put up my hands in my usual opening fight stance. I turned to keep the left side of my body forward. My left hand stayed near my chin as my right one stayed near my right eye.

"I don't have time for this," He whipped out a gun and out of reaction I dropped to one knee. I could hear the bullet whiz passed the top of my head. He really wasn't messing around, I don't know why, but I always felt someone like him usually messes around in situations like this. But apparently I was wrong, that could've been the end of me right there, just like that, I could've been dead, thank God I ducked.

I sprinted towards him closing the small gap and at the last second hopped right knowing he was going to shoot again. The bullet missed me and I swung my foot at his hand. He lowered his arm so my foot sailed cleanly over the top of the weapon. He moved the gun towards my head but I stepped inside of his reach. I grabbed his right wrist with my left hand and twisted it so his elbow was pointing down, wrist face up, which also turned the gun upside down, so the barrel was facing up. I swung my right hand up from underneath his elbow with the intention of breaking his entire arm. He saw it coming and stopped my swing by grabbing my right arm with his free left hand. He raised his knee to catch me in my stomach but I foresaw it. I lifted my right leg to block it with my thigh and then using the same leg, I raised it up to his face. Not in a swing but I wrapped it around the back of his neck. I squeezed hard and then fell backwards, but tucked myself into a ball. The result was throwing him over me and slamming him onto his head.

I was half surprised that it actually worked. I flipped to my stomach and hopped back to my feet. I saw his weapon was still in his hand which was impressive that he didn't let it go. He seemed stunned so I wasn't going to waste time. I ran up to him and kicked the gun away as hard as I could. It sailed across the room away from us both, which was fine with me for right now. I could've made an attempt to wrestle for it but he could easily out muscle me. I also could've made a run for my own but I didn't want to take the risk of him getting a shot off.

He grabbed my leg and then put his other hand between my legs. Before I could react he rose to his feet and lifted me off the ground. Shit, he was going to slam me head first which could literally kill me. I acted swiftly, I wrapped my leg around his arm that was between my legs, which was doing most of the work. I pressed hard at his inner-elbow forcing him to bend it and lose the strength. His grip weakened and I took the time to land a hard punch straight into his nose. It stunned him and I wrapped both my legs around his head, after making sure the grip was strong. I pulled backwards with all my strength, hoping to flip him over my again. It didn't work, he stepped forward to counterbalance but didn't fall over. I didn't want this getting any worse so I released my grip of his head and kicked off his chest. It got me out of his grip and put some distance between us.

"Man you're good," He chuckled, "Didn't expect that."

"Whatever." I wasn't here to talk with him and frankly I would avoid it. I know he was smarter than me, the last thing I needed was him attempting to play with my mind.

"Oh no," He made a genuinely startled face. "I didn't mean it in a sexist way. Women are awesome, I love women, they can do anything they put their mind too." ….Is he serious? "I just meant it that I thought only those two scarred boys were this good."

I didn't say another word and charged him. I planted my left foot and spun around backwards swinging my right arm out in perfect rhythm to backhand him across the face. He ducked under it and rose inside my guard landing a powerful blow into my gut. Spit flew from my mouth from the unexpected power.

"A superman punch this early in the game," He grinned. "That's a homerun attempt babe, save it for when your opponent is more tired."

I tried to slam my fist into his head but he ducked under it which left my arms tangled up with each other. I quickly yanked my left arm back and spun around him, just in time since he attempted to knee my stomach. He was still holding onto my right arm, and since I spun to the left, now my arm was stretched out with my elbow facing him. I saw where this was going, he moved to push my elbow backwards and I couldn't let that happen. I let my feet go and fell down to the ground making my arm go vertical since he was still holding onto it. I was on my back, put my feet into his gut, and pulled with my arm that he was holding. I was able to vault him over me and I heard him slam hard into the ground behind me.

I quickly got to my feet and was horrified to see him already on his charging me. I got into a defensive stance. He stepped strongly and threw a perfect right hook. I raised my left forearm to block it professionally. He came in with a straight jab and I pushed it aside with my left arm as well. Things were going well until he suddenly kicked it up a notch. I'm not sure what he did but he managed to feint well enough to make me block the left side of my body when he was actually aiming for my face. I think he went for a low jab which made me block low, but at the last second, straightened his stance making it rise higher. Whatever he did, I took the full hit into my jaw. It dazed me but I kept my guard up. He came in with a left hook and I pushed it aside but as soon as that happened I felt an impact on the right side of my face. He was throwing punches faster than I could block them and he was throwing them in a perfect combination to get through my guard. I wasn't a boxer, I could fight, but this was professional style boxing.

I was going to change up my strategy when I took a hard punch to my right ear. It rang loudly and I wobbled to my left unbalanced. Blaine didn't hesitate to capitalize on the opportunity. He spun in a circle to gain momentum and came around with the back of his foot high enough to hit my head. I saw it coming but I couldn't focus my body to duck. I took the heel of his boot straight to my jaw and I heard it pop. I fell to the ground and an intense pain spread throughout my jaw line. He definitely just disconnected my jaw, I could feel it out of place and it hurt like hell to move. I forced my body to get back up but I stumbled to gain my balance. I think it was still from my ear, but I powered through it. I rose to my feet and held up my guard. I tried hard to ignore the searing pain through my jaw because I couldn't do anything about that now. I could taste blood, not from my jaw, most likely from my lip that exploded from the hit.

"Man, I heard something pop," His crooked grin was taunting. "You're jaw okay? Wanna take a time out."

I glared daggers and charged him. It wasn't a good idea; he stepped forward and punched straight out catching me easily in the nose. I fell backwards onto my ass like a little bitch. I gripped my nose which was pouring out more blood than I've lost in a while. My eyes were tearing up which was the reaction from a direct hit to the nose. I was just glad it didn't break…somehow. It hurt like hell and I was probably going to sport two black eyes from it, but as long as I could breathe out of it.

I got back to my feet and was going to be more careful this time. I was taking more hits than him and it could start my downward spiral. I had to think about the fight quickly. He was better than me in everything so far. He beat Squall in boxing, and Seifer in grappling. He can switch his styles, he's strong _and_ fast. But then how come I was able to throw him twice. He could've been underestimating me but I don't think that's it. He would've had time to counter me if he was making that mistake, but I was still able to pull off two grapples. Seifer couldn't, why could I? Both of mine were mainly based off the ground…that's it! He isn't good at ground grappling and tie ups. He may be stronger but it's about flexibility and agility with ground grappling. That's what I have to do.

I stepped closer and so did he. I was making it look like I was going to box with him again. He threw a punch and instead of pushing it aside I grabbed onto it. I pulled him closer ready to fall to the ground and try and get him in a choke hold. The part I forgot was his other hand, which struck me hard in the face…multiple times. I was dazed and then he topped it off by striking me in my neck. I lost my air and I tried to push away to recover but he didn't let me. He wrapped his arm around mine to tie me up so I couldn't get away. He then repeatedly pounded into my gut, over and over and over, constantly, never letting up. I could barely breathe from my neck and I was losing all my air from my lungs and the punches to the gut weren't helping.

My feet let out and I fell to the ground. He let go of my arm allowing me to drop to the ground. He could've easily forced me onto my feet and continued to pound on me, but he didn't. It wasn't comforting at all knowing that he allowed me this quick rest. I wheezed eerily for breath that would barely come. I rolled onto my hands and knees. I pitifully started crawling away from him. My jaw was burning and I tried hard not to move it, but my body's natural reaction was to gasp for air. My face hurt like hell from the beating it received in this fight. The blood from my nose was dripping all down my face and into my mouth. I couldn't spit since that involved movement of my lips and jaw. All I could do was move my tongue to try and push it out. A mixture of blood and spit ran down and hung off my chin. It pooled on the floor in front of me in alarming size.

I heard footsteps and knew it was coming. His boot slammed into my side forcing me to roll over onto my back. My ribs were bruised I could feel it, hell maybe I have internal bleeding from all those previous punches. Luckily, I was able to tighten my abs so it formed some line of defense against the punches. Muscle was the best defense against force, it was strong and sturdy. A stomach lined with muscle could take many more hits than some fatass. Although, saying that didn't make me feel much better in this situation.

I wheezed, gasped, and winced for air that was barely coming to me. My jaw felt like it was hanging and the only thing keeping it attached was my skin. I know that's not true, but that's how it felt. I lay on my back staring at the grey-haired psycho step closer to me. He stood at my feet. I attempted to push away from him but I didn't do much good. He slammed his foot on top of my chest. Blood and spit shot out of my mouth in pain. In reaction I rolled to my side and curled up.

This was bad, this was really bad. I was getting fucked up more and more by each second. I couldn't fight him toe-to-toe at all anymore. I doubt I could stand with the way my chest was. Thankfully, my hands and legs weren't damaged. That meant I could still move them and grip things. A brief thought crossed my mind about crawling to my weapons but they were too far away, that wouldn't work. The reason I was this beat up was from not getting him onto the ground, I know if I can do that I'll be able to tie him up. I can still do that since my arms and legs are fine. I can even do that from the ground, I just have to time it with his next kick, which I know would come.

I let the blood run out of my mouth before turning to my back and looking up at him again. He smiled pleased with how I looked. He raised his foot and slammed it down onto my chest, just as I expected. I took it, I couldn't block it, I simply had to take the stomp. It hurt like fucking hell but I took it. I quickly grabbed his leg with both hands and moved my two legs like snakes around it. I twisted on the ground forcing the twist to traverse up his body, making him fall to the ground. This was it. I could get him in a leg lock and break his leg. That would turn the tables.

I rolled over and put my feet against his body, but my legs still squeezed his leg. I wrapped his legs with my arms and kept my hands on his feet which were near my chin. I pressed off him and pulled hard on his foot while making sure to twist it properly. Based off the loud grown that erupted from him I was doing it right. I just had to pull harder and hopefully I could pop it out. Then he'd be stuck on the ground, I could run to a gun and kill him. I could do this. I even had his Achilles tendon stretched, if I could injure that – even in a little way – it would put him out of commission. But I couldn't do it except pull harder and hope something would happen. Maybe tear an ACL, anything, I was honestly hoping for _anything_ at this point.

I was forcing him to be on his stomach and he was twisting to the side using his elbow against the ground as leverage. He dug one of his hands between my foot and his leg. He was prying at my foot trying to get the tight grip off of his leg. I wasn't going to budge that easily, but it didn't matter. He eventually squeezed his hand between my foot and his leg. He managed to pry my foot off and with that one foot not in place, the entire hold fell apart. He shoved me aside and hopped to his feet. He watched me with curiosity as I struggled to get to my feet as well. My face was absolutely fucking pounding in agony. I haven't been in this much pain since I was back in that torture room so many months ago. This was way more intense since I had to fight back and actually survive. This time, if I ever stop fighting for the slightest moment, I'll die. That's not a fucking joke… I could die and it could be any moment now.

"You've been trained well," He commented.

I focused all my strength and forced my body to get back on my feet. I made a sad wincing sound as I did and I couldn't stand up straight, but god damn it I was on my feet. I was more injured than I thought, I knew it was bad, but on the ground it is hard to tell. Standing up, I could feel all the blood from my face flowing down to my chin and down my neck. It continued down to my shirt soaking it making it sticky. I could feel it attaching to my chest and the crimson felt warm. I constantly pushed my tongue to my teeth trying to get the blood out of my mouth. I'm sure I looked like a mad person. My damaged stomach forced me to bend over, not a slight arch in the back. I was almost horizontal with one hand pressing against my leg to prevent my body from toppling over.

"You have a diehard attitude," He was reading me. "It is impressive, I'll give you that. But you have to ask yourself, is this your attitude always or just when you're about to die. It could simply be your body kicking itself into survival mode."

I smirked, I knew his game plan. He was trying to freak me out by making me think about dying, but that wasn't going to work.

He arched an eyebrow, "My oh my, you are good, I can see I can't psyche you out easily." It was hard to not react to that statement as well. His ability to read people so quickly was terrifying.

I took a slow step towards him, it was pathetic but the meaning behind it was more important. I wasn't just trying to survive, that's not my goal. I was the assassin and my goal was to kill Blaine.

He took a quick step towards me and I raised my arms to block the front but he didn't punch. He grabbed my arms and threw them to the side opening my front. Then, he brought his hands together open face, like a clap, on each side of my head, right over my ears. The intense ringing returned and I found my balance was hard to maintain. I stumbled but was able to stay on my feet with strong concentration. It may not have been for the best.

I didn't see the punch coming and honestly, I couldn't quite feel it. It was the strongest punch I've ever been hit with. It knocked me senseless, it connected right where my jaw was dislocated. The pain that shot through my body, the searing, burning, jolt of electrify that ran throughout me, it made my bones shiver in agony. My skin tightened as I felt my entire body stiffen. The only reason I didn't scream in anguish was because my brain shut off. I knew it did, for that brief moment, it disconnected everything in my body from itself. After the stiffness, my legs went limp as I fell to the ground unnaturally, bending like a piece of rubber as if my bones were gone, and I couldn't even move my arms to catch myself. I slammed into the concrete floor which cracked open my head right above my eye. The blood began flowing from the sizable gash. My eyes were unfocused and the whole room looked blurred to me. I couldn't tell if my fingers were moving as I tried to wiggle them. It took me a while to realize the wetness I felt on the side of my face was the pool of blood forming around my head.

The punch really fucked me up.

I blinked and blinked and blinked. I strained my eyes until they started to hurt as well. But I was able to get them focused and slowly things began working again. Not well, and I wasn't completely happy they were working since now everything hurt ten times more. I rolled onto my back coughing up blood that dripped down my throat. Eventually I just gave up and started swallowing the blood since I couldn't spit it out. I couldn't breathe out of my nose anymore from all the blood clogging it up. I rubbed my legs together and my hands failed about uselessly as I attempted to get everything back to working order. The lights from the ceiling fuzzed my sight again and I couldn't look at them directly. My head kept rolling around despite my attempts to keep it still.

"You're awake," Blaine was astonished. He strolled up to me and bent over my crippled body. "I can't believe it. That should've knocked you out cold. What the fuck have you gone through? Only someone who has dealt with severe pain could stay conscious after that."

All the training I dealt with was for this exact moment. So I wouldn't pass out from pain in an important situation. I wasn't that weak little bitch that first joined the Saints. I was different, I refuse to believe that after all my hard fucking work, after everything I've dealt with. After killing countless lives and through hours of training, I wouldn't give it my absolute all in a fight. I refuse to allow my body to pass out so I can die peacefully unaware. Fuck that, I wasn't going to give up.

I squeezed my fingers into fists and I could feel my toes moving. This was good, I had control again, now if I could just stop writhing around in pain.

He reached down and grabbed my shirt.

I can't believe he just did that…he's so open, is this a trap, doesn't matter, I have to act now.

I moved faster than I ever have in my entire life. I put all my pain and injuries aside. I grabbed his arm with both my hands and pulled it passed my head. I simultaneously reached both my legs up and wrapped them around the back of his neck. I squeezed as tight as I possibly could. His one arm, which was trapped between my legs and hands, was completely stretched out and useless. His other arm, which wasn't part of the hold, couldn't do anything since there was no way it could pry my legs away or reach my face. It was a triangle hold and it was one of the best to choke someone with. It was almost impossible to break out of and it would only take a minute for him to pass out. I know he didn't expect it, he thought it was too hurt to move like that, I thought I was too, but will can push through all pain. I wanted him to fall to the ground but he didn't, he was still standing technically. He was heavily bent over of course, but if he got leverage on his feet it wouldn't be good.

That's exactly what he was doing. He got his balance and then by straightening his back. He was able to lift my body off the ground, which was more or less curled up around his neck. He got me a foot off the ground before dropping me, hitting my back against the ground. It hurt but I held on, I wasn't going to give this up. He tried it again and I held on again. Only one stream of thoughts was running through my head.

Come on girl, you got this, just don't fucking let go. His face is turning red, he's almost out, he's going to pass out. You can do this, you got this girl. Come on, just don't let go, he'll try and slam you again but hang on, just don't let go, don't let go, don't let go, don't let go, don't let go, don't _fucking_ let go.

Blaine growled like a beast as he pulled on his neck and straightened his back. He jolted his legs straight as well and he really had me off the ground this time. He was over six feet tall and held me above his head. I couldn't do anything, if I let go that's exactly what he wanted, I just had to hang on, I had to take the hit. I was about to be slammed into solid concrete from a height of six feet, but I refused to let go. I can do it, I can hold on. It'll hurt, but I can do it. I refuse to lose.

Blaine was almost passed out, I could tell. He eyed me ferociously as he made his move. He let his feet slip out from underneath him while he flung his entire body forward. I was fucking slammed into the ground with all his strength. I took the entire hit on my back and I was helpless. I knew it would be bad but not this bad. I lost all control of my arms and legs from the shock. He was instantly released from my grip as I lay there for the second time, senseless. I rolled around in pure pain with no way to escape from it. I couldn't even grind my teeth since I couldn't move my jaw. I clawed at the ground until my finger nails bled, attempting to do anything to stop the pain my entire body was now radiating.

I felt my eyes getting heavy.

"No," I growled sending more pain through my jaw. I refused, I flat out fucking refuse to pass out. This wasn't over.

I heard Blaine chuckling. "You are fucking insane, you know that? I'm deeply impressed. Sincerely, I stand here speechless…well not technically since I am speaking so I guess I'm not, you know, speechless. But it's the thought that counts right?"

He walked over to me and bent down. "Just try it again," He sneered as he reached for me. I wanted to, I really wanted to put him in the same hold, but I couldn't. My body wasn't listening to me. I knew he'd grab my shirt, and then do whatever he wanted to do with me. I just had to survive long enough to recover a little bit.

What I didn't expect him to do was grab my jaw. He reached his fingers into my mouth and kept his palm under my chin. Then he started to lift. I fucking screamed like someone was ripping my heart out. My legs flailed uselessly pounding on the ground. My hands clawed at his back. But he kept pulling and soon I felt my head lift off the ground. He was going to pick me up by my jaw. I wrapped my arms around his arm and lifted to relieve the tension applied to my jaw. It wasn't enough so I drew my legs close and wrapped those around his arm as well. I tried hard to take all the pressure off my jaw but it still hurt more than anything I could bare. My eyes watered with pitiful mercy begging stares. Because my head was tipped upwards, all the blood was running back to my throat and I gagged on it. I tried hard to swallow it but it was too much and it was only a matter of time until I vomited it back up. As I gagged the blood dribbled out of the sides of my mouth since his hand was blocking the middle.

"This is how you will die," His face was so close to mine, staring right at me. "With the most intense pain you've ever felt as you choke to death on your own blood."

I felt my lungs pleading for more breath that I couldn't give to them. He was choking me without actually choking me. My eyes kept rolling to the back of my head, I don't know why, I can't explain it. Maybe because of the pain or whatever, but I also couldn't feel my finger tips. I just know I was going out of focus and the grip I had on his arm was loosening, which put more pain on my jaw. It was a downward spiral that would end in me dying and there was nothing I could do.

"Rinoa!"

Blaine's head whipped to see Zell charging him. "Not that crazy fuck." Blaine dropped me without hesitation and began running away.

I fell to the ground and tipped my head to the side coughing out all the blood. I saw Zell slide to my side, completely ignoring Blaine.

"Oh God Rinoa," Zell brushed hair out of my face. "Dear God Rinoa, why didn't you wait?"

"Zell!" I heard Squall shouting in the distance.

"Squall quickly!" He screamed back. "It's Rinoa, S-She's...it's bad! Hurry!"

My head rolled to the other side to see the door swing close that Blaine just exited. He got away, after all that…he got away.

"Oh my God!" Selphie screeched.

"Rinoa!" Squall ran to my side. "Oh fuck Rinoa, why did you go?"

Now the fight was over the pain intensified, which I thought was impossible but it did. I began wincing painfully. It wasn't groans or moans, it was sad sounding mixture between tearful whimpers and gasps of anguish. I grabbed Squall's shirt and pulled myself closer to him. I tried to slide into his lap, just wanting him to hold me. I wanted him to make the pain stop.

"Oh fuck, oh fucking…God damnit," Squall brought me to him and held me. His head whipped towards Seifer. "Chase that fucker down!" He shouted vengefully. "I want him in the ground! Do it Seifer!"

Seifer grabbed Zell and forced him to his feet. "Which way did he go?"

"That way!" Zell shouted at the door and took off at it with Seifer closely behind him.

"We have to take her to a hospital!" Selphie cried out.

"No!" Squall yelled.

"Squall," Irvine took his hat off and ran a hand through his hair. "This is bad man, maybe-"

"No!" He wasn't budging. "These are all flesh wounds, I can tell. It's bad, it's painfull, but she isn't going to die."

"Squall she's in so much pain!" Selphie began crying. "Just look at her, she's…she's...she's dying."

"No she isn't!" Squall screamed. "She isn't," He looked down at me. "You're gonna be fine Rinoa, okay? Listen to me, you're going to be fine, just stay with me."

It hurt so much, oh God it hurt so fucking much. There's no way I could describe it. I wanted to die, that's how bad it was. There was a moment that I just wanted to die so it could all be over. But as quickly as the moment come it passed because I realized it wasn't just the physical pain. It was also the fact I was beaten by Blaine, I lost and I didn't fucking like it. This pain, I deserved it, this is what I get for failing my objective. If I won, I wouldn't be in this pain, it's my own fault. I have no one else to blame but myself.

I touched the cut above my eye which was still bleeding a lot. I turned in Squall's lap to be able to touch my hand to the floor. I began writing on the ground in blood, I touched above my eye again whenever I needed more 'ink'. It took a bit of work but I wrote what I wanted, I wasn't sure when I'd wake up after passing out, which would be soon. I wanted Squall to fully understand my thoughts and there was no way to speak with my jaw.

I knew everyone read it by the way they all paused and didn't say anything. It startled them since they never expected someone in my state to think this way, but it was my true feelings. I had to let them know.

I wrote only four words in Galbadian.

**I failed never again.**

* * *

**April 19th**

I heard it in my room.

It made sense I was in my room when it happened, I stay in my bed most of the time. Ever since my fight with Blaine, things have been rough, but things are always rough in this time. I'm recovering, and at a decent rate too, so I couldn't complain there. The first thing they did when they got me back to the apartment was stop all my bleeding. After that, they put my jaw back into place, and I thank God I was still unconscious for that since I doubt I'd be able to stand it. My ribs weren't as bruised as I once thought, which was also good. I definitely had a concussion and was sore all over, but none of it was life threatening. Still, it was a close call, and only being able to eat soup for two weeks wasn't fun. But I can chew food now, not quickly, but I can feel it getting better every day. I'm lucky it was only dislocated and not broken, let alone get wired. If I had to get my jaw wired shut I think I'd cry every day until it was taken off. Point is…everything was healing and I was getting better as the days passed. I stayed in bed not just for physical reasons – although helpful – but because emotional I was stressed.

I relived that fight every time I closed my eyes to sleep at night and I'm not exaggerating. There hasn't been one single fucking night that I haven't replayed that fight. Where I got my ass kicked and literally almost died. I tried thinking of what I could do differently, but truthfully there isn't anything. He's just better than me, and I know that now. I'm not cocky anymore and I won't make stupid mistakes like trying to take him one-on-one. If I get the chance, I'll shoot him and end it instantly. If I don't have the chance? Then I won't push my luck and I'll run for my life. Well…I say that…but honestly…I can feel my fingers twitching, just itching to fight him again. It doesn't make sense, I should be scared of him for the rest of my life, but all I want to do is find him. It's a strange sense that's taken over me.

My head snapped to the door as I heard it again. A scream. It pierced the walls of the apartment and rang out in pure agony as if someone was being stabbed. I jumped out of bed and rushed out to the hallway. I stopped in front of Squall's room where it came from and the rest of the group was standing outside of it as well. The sound came from inside Squall's room and only he was inside, which meant he was the one who created it. I've never heard Squall scream like that and I sent a nervous shiver down my spine.

Selphie looked at the door with terrified eyes so I knew I wasn't alone. I connected gazes with Seifer, communicating with him mentally. This was his job, he was supposed to go inside and take care of Squall. Whenever our leader loses his cool, Seifer gets him back on track.

"Come on guys," Seifer spoke catching me off guard. He began walking back to the living room. "Let's leave him alone."

Slowly they all listened to him, since they knew Seifer knew best in this situation. But that's just it, Seifer knows best…but he left it up to me. In this small moment something huge took place. Seifer was implying it was now my job to help Squall, which meant…I was as close to Squall as Seifer was. I felt my hands shake a bit and I squeezed them tightly to make them stop. It made me nervous, back in November I never wouldn't imagined I would be in this position. The person whose job it somehow became to help Squall on such a personal level. I knew I was close with him, but now that Seifer left this up to me, it was finally truly hitting me of the importance and significance.

I decided I could only think about it for so long. I opened the door and entered the darkened room. The shades were completely closed allowing no light to filter in. It would've been pitch-black if Squall didn't have a clip-light attached to the whiteboard shining down on it. It was a small light but its strength was exaggerated in darkness. It only took me a second to find Squall. He was sitting on the floor with his back pressed against the end of his bed. The white board was in front of him with pictures and words scribbled all over it. It was his mind laid out, every thought he had on Blaine and against him was written down. I've read it before and I couldn't make anything out of it. It was far too complicated and honestly, it read like a madman wrote it, which as I looked at Squall curled up on the ground…I could a see scary the parallel.

I shut the door behind me and walked closer to him. As I did, I could hear him breathing heavy. I froze in place as I realized Squall was crying. My hand covered my mouth to stop the pitiful gasp of surprise at seeing him like this. It pulled at my heartstrings seeing such a strong person completely demoralized to the point of crying. He wasn't supposed to cry, he was the invincible leader that never failed. How could he be reduced to tears like this? His head was in his hands sobbing like a child.

But that's why I was here, Seifer left it to me to help him, and I would.

I swiftly moved to his side and sat on the floor next to him. I pulled his hands away from his face and forced him to look at me.

"Squall." I sternly called to him.

"I can't do it Rinoa," He sadly responded. I've never heard him so broken before. His voice was unwavering in strength and pride. Now it was broken up between sobs, uneven and whimpering.

"Squall-"

"I can't, I just…I can't do it," He whined, "He's better, he's fucking better. He's beating me every time."

"You'll get him Squall," I reassured him, making sure to keep his head facing me to keep our eyes connecting, which was hard for me to do because of how sad they looked.

"No," He shook his head slowly, "I can't…you've seen him, you've fought him. He's unbeatable, he's just better."

"No he isn't, Squall."

"Yes he is!" He exclaimed, "Look at the fucking board, everything I try-"

"Fuck the board!" I shouted and slid over on my knee and slammed my foot into it. It banged into the wall before falling over onto the floor face down. It covered up the meaningless letters which formed words and sentences to the complicated intricate plans which always failed.

"It doesn't matter," Squall wasn't even giving me a chance. "He's so much better than me, don't you understand. He's just better, what can I do?"

"You can keep trying, we are getting closer," I brushed the side of his face to try anything to comfort him. "He'll slip up and we'll have him."

"No, Rinoa," Squall eyed me so strongly it was hard to not start crying myself. "_We'll_ slip up one day and die…and I don't want that to happen."

"What are you saying?"

"He's won," He pulled his head away from me and let it hang down to stare at the floor. "I give up, it's over, he's won. I'm pulling out before one of us gets killed."

I jerked my head back in reaction. "…that's it…just like that…it's over?"

"Yeah, why the fuck not," He snorted in pitiful laughter. "He doesn't know who we actually are, we don't have an actual job or duty. We have millions of gil, literally. He can go anywhere for the rest of our lives and live comfortably." He looked at me with such a hopefully face, begging me to agree with him. "Doesn't that sound nice, Rinoa? To stop all this killing, and just live for once. We're so young, we shouldn't be doing this, this shouldn't be our job. We did our time, Blaine's won, before someone dies, let's get out and just finally_ live._"

I growled and moved to the front of him. I threw my leg over his and straddled him as I grabbed his face roughly forcing it to look me straight in the eyes. Our noses were touching as I shouted into his face. "Fuck that! _You fucking pussy_! You want to run and hide, you little bitch! I'm so disappointed in you! That's what you want to do? You want to just give up and quit! We don't quit Squall! That's not who we are, you got that!"

"He's won!" He shouted back.

"He's won the moment you give up and not a moment sooner!" I screamed back actually spitting on him this time. "So you decide when he's won."

"Well he has, alright! It's like a fucking warzone in the city."

"Then fight a _war_," I hissed.

His eyes hardened slightly which meant his mind was thinking more rationally already. "What do you mean?"

I could feel my adrenaline pumping in this conversation. I was fully influencing him now. I could be the motivator to his next decisions and they could affect the entire city so this was pretty fucking important I got it right. Honestly, I wasn't sure if I was 'technically' right, but I said what I felt, what I wanted. I don't care if it's selfish, it's for the best.

"He made the city a warzone, right?" My voice was gaining heat and excitement. "People are dying left and right, it's anarchy in the streets. People are losing hope and everything seems grim. He's started a war, and what are we doing? We're doing fucking appeasement. He does something, he don't stop him, he does it again, he don't stop him, he does it again, and so on and so on. Other stupid petty criminals feed off him and do wicked deeds, but we _ignore_ them because we only want Blaine. They are the soldiers, killing the general is good but we need to stop the soldiers as well."

"How can we?" He spat. "Do you know what you're saying?"

"Yes," I answered without hesitation. "Fight the war! Just fucking let loose on this city and show them who we really are. Let's burn down buildings and blow up bridges. Let's fucking retake the city in this war because this is a war. We aren't well-meaning assassins picking off evil people anymore. We are now soldiers that – to fight this enemy – must fight _like_ the enemy. Some guy beat a woman to death? We'll tie him to cars and rip him a part." I growled pressing my forehead against Squalls, "Come on Squall, we can do this, let's fucking tear this city apart. We'll get Blaine eventually, oh I know we will without a doubt in my mind. I refuse to rest until Blaine is six feet under."

I released his head and sat back watching him take in my rant. His eyes were darting back and forth. I could see his lips moving as he whispered inaudible words. In another second they flashed back to meet mine.

A strange twisted smile spread across his face. "Let's fucking do it."

I returned his smile with my own wicked smirk.

His hand grabbed the back of my head and pulled me towards him. I found his lips pressed against mine and it took me less than a second to return the kiss. It only lasted a few moments before he pulled me back. I got off him and he stood up. He rushed to the door and I quickly followed after looking forward to seeing what he was about to do.

He rushed right into the living room where everyone was waiting for him. I saw them smile as they saw he was all better. They were all worried, it was obvious, but the feeling was settling.

"Everyone listen up!" He shouted. I leaned against the wall in the hallway behind him with a proud smile on my face. "This is the new plan, this is my decree and it will be followed! You hear me, no arguing, this is serious shit and if you don't like this strategy, you _will_ leave!"

There was silence for a moment since everyone was caught off guard by his sudden excitement and energy. They were happy to see him like this, but they didn't think he'd be like this after hearing that pitiful cry earlier. It felt like forever before someone finally answered but after that it was a snowball of shouts and cheers.

"Yeah," Seifer's low voice rumbled in agreement.

"Let's do it!" Selphie cheered.

"Game on!" Zell shouted.

"Lead the way!" Irvine yelled

Then everyone started yelling, not actual words, just 'woohhh' and 'yay' and stuff like that. For over a month we have been fighting a losing fight and there hasn't been much joy around. Every day was a sober mood in the house, especially since someone was always serious injured, this time me. They were feeding of Squall's energy and loved it.

"Good, because this will be some tough shit to swallow," Squall announced. "I won't lie to you and pretend this is some little tricky scheme I came up with to somehow catch Blaine. No, this is the most simplistic plan and will only work with tough, painful, tiring, hard work. But I promise you, it will fucking work, I know it will," Squall looked back at me. "Rinoa knows it will."

I nodded and smiled.

"Before, we left all the little criminals alone, well we aren't doing that anymore," He began pacing back and forth. "This is the new plan, fuck Blaine. That's right, fuck Blaine. Don't give a shit about him anymore. We will put all our efforts into killing just the regular good old fashion street scum. But in overdrive mood, we will fucking go out every night and literally sweep the streets of all the wicked people out there."

"How?" Seifer asked. "That's not that easy, and it can get sloppy. One person gets followed back to the apartment, one person gets injured. There's a lot of police out on active duty, more than usual. If we do that, we can't stay in this apartment anymore, we need to move into the dirtier parts of the city and live there."

Oh, I never thought of that. Guess I still have a lot to learn.

Squall nodded. "You are absolutely right, we are leaving this apartment because it can no longer work as our base during this new operation. But that isn't all. We are splitting up," Squall stated and this surprised everyone, even me.

"What?" Zell managed to ask the question first.

"We can't all go out in one group, it wouldn't work and like Seifer said, we'd be followed or discovered to easily. Seven people moving into one building draws a lot of attention. Also, if we spit up, three different places a night will be getting hit. People won't know what's going on at first. Imagine a gang house is taken down in the projects, while simultaneously a crack house in south side is burned down _and _multiple scum is killed and dumped in the streets in the east. No one would be able to keep up with all these 'attacks' at the same time. This is how we get back the city."

"How will we coordinate this?" Quistis asked. "Doing that every night will be tough."

"We won't," Squall answered. "If we seem to have some pattern we'll get discovered so we won't. Once we split up…we will not contact each other until further notice." Squall paused and looked around as everyone's faces started to drop realizing how serious this operation would be and the effort it would take. "I know, this is tough, but please stay with me on this and it'll work. Every team will act fully on their own so people like Blaine will try and find connections, but there won't be any. It will seem like this is all completely unrelated because realistically, it won't even start on the same night for everyone. Since each team will take more time to get ready and decide what they want to do. So, adding that as well, we will not seem like a big group at all."

"That's really fucking good," Seifer smirked. "I'm really liking this. Best of all, theoretically, if people finally catch on, since they won't at first, then more people will form 'groups' of their own and do their own 'cleaning'. Am I right?"

Squall nodded, "There's no guarantee of that, but there is a chance copy-cat Saints will pop up when they see people taking back the city. It is a desperate time so people will take extreme measures, and I hope they do."

"Wait," Selphie raised her hand, something she always did at meetings. "We're dragging innocent people into this…isn't that bad."

Squall walked back closer to me and leaned against the opposite wall. It was a small action that meant a great deal. This was partly my plan as well, I gave him the basic idea, he was just making it work by fixing the details. He also probably expected some disagreement with what was coming next and I would jump in backing him up if I had do.

"This is also part of the new strategy," Squall crossed his arms and spoke quietly but strongly. "We will become cruel. This is tactical warfare and a psych op. If a mugger is found skinless hanging from a building…people will stop mugging."

Selphie gasped and Quistis covered her mouth. She removed her hands briefly to protest, "Are you serious? You want to go to lengths such as that, I'm not sure if that's the right thing to do."

"It isn't about being right," I called out answering for Squall. "We do what others can't…that's who we are. We will set the standards for the city and we will make the people choose. They can be with Blaine or with us. There is no longer an in-between."

"Exactly," Squall spoke evenly. "We will be cruel and wicked to those that deserve it. But most of all…I want death and I want a lot of it. I want the streets of this city to run with blood. I don't want anyone left alive for any reason. I want whole houses burned and completely destroyed. I want gangs to become extinct because if they exist they know each and every member of one will be killed. Pimps…I want them gone. Anyone that is considered scum, kill. People will be afraid to even shoplift bubblegum because we could be in that store. This city will tear itself apart trying to figure out what's happening. And in this dismay and confusion, we will rise and take over. We will rule and we will take down Blaine, this is how it will happen. This is my order."

No one spoke and Squall honestly didn't hesitate long to continue. I don't think he really wanted people questioning him.

"The three teams will be Alpha, Zeta, and Foxtrot. We leave this apartment and _never _come back to it for any reason. That means, you grab anything and everything you need now. If you forget something, your loss."

"Wait…now?" Irvine inquired.

"Yes, now. This is happening tonight."

That also caught everyone by surprise but I guess there isn't a reason to put it off.

"Now, all cell phones will also be left in this apartment. Credit cards are fine to keep but obviously be smart with them. I want each team to take cash bills down from the storage room and use those mostly, that way no big cash withdrawals will be seen. Also, only pay-as-you-go cell phones will be used. Once a week the two teams will call me and update me on anything that seems important. After that one phone call, we will ditch those phones and get new ones. So make sure you have a stock pile and have the numbers prepared to share. There is no too safe. We are doing this smart and it will work."

"Umm, what are the teams?" Zell asked.

"No debating or switching teams." Squall declared and I made me smile since it sounded like gym class back in elementary school. "Seifer and I will make up Alpha team."

"No surprise there," Irvine commented.

"Seifer and I woke best together, you guys know that. We are the dirt team." Squall paused to let that information sink in, which everyone understood exactly what that meant. "We will do the gruesome work that needs to be done in the city to spread the message. If we're being honest here, everyone knows Seifer and I are the most malevolent in the group, therefore we will do what you guys may not have the stomach to do." Squall pressed onwards not allowing comments, "Irvine and Zell, you will be Zeta."

"Why those two?" I raised the question since it did interest me and I was trying to backup Squall here. That meant to keep the conversation moving so people wouldn't ask about the 'dirt team' more.

"Irvine can take out targets that none of us can, since he's a sniper. We all know that. His pistol is good as well but his close-combat skills are not. Weaker in close areas, means stronger partner to cover for him. Zell, with no shooting skill but massive hand combat skill, will be the perfect person for Irvine. Vice Versa, Zell needs people to cover him and Irvine's aim is perfect for that. It's the precision team." Squall directed his attention at the two. "I expect to see high priority targets to be disappeared left and right Irvine. We created that Bingo book for a reason, I want it put to use. Take down those tough ones, meanwhile, allow Zell to take out the massive quantity part to instill the effect needed to make this plan work overall."

This was really thought out…I know I came up with the main idea but that's all I had. Squall, in about a minute, literally came up with all of this. Again, it shows his leadership skills.

"That leaves the last team, Foxtrot, to the girls," He looked at me but jerked his head at the girls on the couch. I understood it easily and walked over to stand behind them. "I'm well aware that Selphie and Quistis, you are more behind the scenes. Well that is over for you now. I don't intend to mean that, Quistis, you don't have to charge into a room with a gun by yourself. But you will no longer be safe away in a high end hotel. You'll see what I mean when you're in a crappy one room hotel that could have the door broken down to be robbed at any moment. Selphie, I expect buildings to be blowing up left and right. I want limo's blowing up when a mobster gets inside. Get creative, but get it done."

He directed his attention straight at me. "Rinoa, you've trained a long time and you're ready. You will take the lead on most missions you three come up with. You have the experience and the skills now. It is your job to keep them safe and alive, I leave that on you. I'm sure Seifer and Irvine also are putting their trust in you. But also, I want you to do whatever is necessary; you have been our way into many buildings because of your physic." He's talking about seducing. "Use that, and do what you have to. You can easily get inside most places and take it down from the inside, you've done it before, do it again. I don't want your group falling behind in the body count compared to the other two. If so, you have to make up for what Selphie and Quistis can't. I know it's tough but-"

"Consider it done," I cut him off with a solid tough answer and unwavering eyes so he knew I was ready.

"Good," He smirked, "You three are the chaos team. Rinoa can do the dirty work, while Selphie you will be able to take down strong holds that aren't safe to take out in person anymore. So just blow them sky-high. Quistis, I want everything hacked, you are too invade everyone privacy to get eyes in the city. If you have to shut down _Twitter_ to prevent a drug deal, then do it, I want people to know that nothing is safe anymore, that all electronics we control. With your specialties you will instate the chaos that effects everyday citizens and makes them demand change. The younger generations rule this world, when they protests, things change. They don't care until their life is affected, so through technology we will get them moving."

"Did I hear something about a body count?" Zell questioned.

"Each week when your team reports in, I want the numbers of people that have died. I will let you know in return what the other team's numbers are. If you've killed fifteen people and someone's killed thirty-five…then get your shit together and make up for it."

"Oh a competition," Seifer joked.

"A gruesome one," Quistis commented.

"Well winner gets a 'proud of you'." Squall announced.

We all stared at him for a moment confused before it sank it. I forgot we all kept count on how many times Squall has said 'I'm proud of you' to one of us. Wait…he knows about that?

"Wait! You know about that!" Selphie exclaimed.

Squall smirked, "Please, of course I do. It wasn't very hard to figure out and it's great to see you guys compete to impress me."

"Well when you say it like that," Zell grumbled.

"That's because you aren't winning!" Irvine cheered.

"You're all queers." Seifer snorted since he was the only one who didn't partake in our little competition. "How come you don't keep track of when I say it?"

What was he…jealous?

"Who would want that?" Zell complained.

"Well it would be harder to get one," Selphie mused.

"I'd win that competition," Quistis smiled.

"Yeah, unfair!" Selphie argued. "I don't wanna have to blow Seifer to get points."

"Wait!" Irvine exclaimed, "Do you blow Squall to get points?"

Selphie held a teasing smile as she shrugged. Irvine looked to Squall for confirmation who I was pleasantly surprised to see him playing along.

"Not cool guys," Irvine sat back pouting with his arms crossed. A few light hearted chuckles echoed around the previously tense room. It was time we got back to that.

"Joking aside," I stated since it was almost impossible for any of us to go through a serious conversation without digressing to some pointless conversation. Although I could understand, we were about to separate for who knows how long. In all honestly, we didn't know for sure we'd ever see each other again. Who know what could happen when split apart. As that thought sunk into my head I realized exactly what I was getting into. This banter wouldn't happen again for a long time or maybe never again. "Never mind, keep joking."

It earned me a weak smile from Quistis. She placed a reassuring hand on my leg.

"So let me get this straight," Zell's fingers were winding around each other nervously. "We are going to go dark, no communication with anyone."

Squall nodded and the mood grew even more somber.

It just hit me. Zell's girlfriend doesn't know what we do at all. I've talked to Zell about it before and he convinces her that his martial-arts training requires him to remain in solitude a lot. His excuse to not see her for some weeks. But he always calls her and tries to see her as much as possible. I've met her more than once and she's really sweet. But this plan meant Zell couldn't contact her at all and we didn't know how long this will last.

"Call her and tell her you're going on a trip for a while. To train or something." I suggested. Everyone was thinking the same thing and seemed to perk up when I said that.

Everyone except Zell who shook his head. "No, I told her I'd never have to do that. She's suspect something was wrong and I know her. After a week or two she'd try to contact me. Also, I realized if Blaine even saw _any _of my tattoo when I was fighting him, he could put it together and find out who I am. A martial-artist with a face tattoo, can't be hard to find in this city, especially one as known as me. That wouldn't matter much since I could stay hidden, but if Kristi is out there asking and trying to find out where I am. I'm too afraid Blaine will pick up on it. I won't be able to stand by if Blaine somehow gets to Kristi."

I didn't think of that at all. "So what are you going to do?" I asked.

Zell looked me dead in the eye. "I'm going to break up with her. It's getting too dangerous anyways, she shouldn't be dragged into this."

Zell was crazy about this girl, even before he joined the Saints he knew her. She was at the funeral for his mom and grandfather. They were never official until a year or so ago, but they've always had this thing for one another. One drunken night Zell even admitted he was thinking about marriage at one point. Now he had to break up with her to protect her…and she'd never know why.

"I'm sorry Zell," Selphie whined. "She'll understand, tell her you need time and after everything you can get back-"

"No," Zell cut Selphie off sharply. "I can't have her trying to find me at all, I need her to hate me."

I felt so bad for him, if it wasn't hard enough to break up with who he loves, now he has to do it so she hates him. Which means…

Zell pulled out his phone, "I want to do this alone but…if I was alone, I don't think I could do it." He looked around the room with pleading eyes.

"We're here for you," Irvine placed a heavy hand on the blonde's shoulders.

He stared at his phone for a long while before actually dialing. I imagine he was thinking about what he was going to say. We all watched him silently as he held the phone to his ear.

"You fucking slut!" Zell screamed so loud it made me flinch. His free hand covered his eyes and I knew he was seconds away from crying. "Don't 'what' me! I know you fucked him! You whore, how could you betray me like that!" He screamed and I saw Irvine's hand squeeze harder on his shoulder. Selphie was already crying. I was on the verge as well, this was one of the saddest things I've ever seen.

"The guy you work with!" Zell did start crying, and we all knew why, but Kristi would only assume it was because of the accusations Zell was saying. "You're the worst and I hate you! We're over, you fucking messed up and I never want to see you again. You hear me? Ever again you fucking slut!"

Zell hung up and chucked the phone across the room. His head dropped to his hands to hide his tears. We watched wishing we could help…but what could we do?

Squall was the one who spoke first, "Zell broke up with the one he loved to save the city, what will you sacrifice?"

"Let's get going," I said, "The faster we get rid of Blaine the faster we can fix what Zell just had to do." He looked up at me with tearstained eyes asking for hope and I would give it to him. "We will fix this Zell, and you can tell Kristi everything afterwards. _Everything_. She'll understand."

It wasn't really my call to say such things, but I didn't give a shit anymore.

We all grabbed everything we needed. We packed light. I only took a backpack of clothes and simple necessities. I could buy anything that I would need later, like stated earlier, we weren't freezing our assets. Everyone else only brought one bag of clothes and necessities like me. Then on top of that everyone brought what their job entailed. Quistis a laptop, Zell a few choice knifes which I've seen him use with deadly effect. When we descended down to the shooting range we picked out our weapons. Irvine took two different sniper rifles, I'm sure he had his reason why. I grabbed my handguns and then four more for Quistis and Selphie. Selphie grabbed the 'super-shorty' shotgun we got that one time from saving Frost. She had two bags, one of clothes, and one of all explosive ingredients.

I watched as Squall and Seifer grabbed more guns than I thought anyone would ever need. All sorts, from six-shooters to fully-auto. They had bags and bags filled with metal. Then one large duffle-bag filled with a plethora of ammo. It was smart so I grabbed another backpack, we had about a million in the garage since they were always useful. I filled the backpack full of ammo and weapon cleaners. It felt like it weighed a ton but I slung it on my back, it would come in handy.

"One car for each team only," Squall announced, "If you need another one, you better steal it."

"So all morals are out the window?" Quistis remarked. It was easy to see she wasn't a big fan of this plan.

I placed my hand on her shoulder and smiled, "Come on Quistis, I know this is sudden, but give it a chance." Quistis smiled back but I clearly didn't change her mind at all.

Zell got into a car first, slamming the door from the rest of us, he didn't even say good-bye. I could understand, he wasn't in the right state of mind. He was depressed and pissed off. I knew he wanted to start this plan right away or, maybe he didn't want to start crying in front of us. Either way, as he sat in his car, all the couples paired off.

Irvine walked up to Selphie, "I hope Zell feels better."

"He will," She answered sadly. "You have to help him okay, don't just ignore him or let him sulk. Help him through it."

"I will darlin'." Irvine smiled.

Selphie grabbed his collar, pulled him down, stood on her toes, and gave him a big kiss. She refused to release him for a long time. It was Irvine who first broke it and slowly pressed her shoulders back. He gave her a soft smile and I wasn't surprised to see Selphie starting to cry. It made me want to cry so I looked away. I was faced with Seifer consoling Quistis gently…that made me want to cry even more. I rarely saw those two being intimate and not bickering. I felt myself starting to tear-up when Squall grabbed my hand and pulled me away.

For the second time that night I was surprised when I found his lips around mine. It wasn't soft, nothing Squall does is soft. He pulled me in closer with his arms wrapped around my lower waist. My neck was bending back as he pressed more which did hurt my jaw a bit. I didn't care, I loved it. I let my hand grip his long hair as the other one snaked around his back. He pulled back but only an inch, I could still feel his breath. My eyes were still closed, I hoped his were as well, but I wasn't going to open mine to check.

"Rinoa, listen."

"What?"

"I…I'm not sure why I'm doing this. I j-just…I don't know..."

"It's okay." I ran my hand down his cheek. "You don't have to question it, or put a label to it. It's fine, I'm okay."

"Alright," That seemed to relax him.

"I guess I'll be going now," I told him.

"Hold on."

"We can duck into the elevator for a quick-y." I joked.

He chuckled slightly, "Not that, I want you to do something for me."

I knew this was switching back to work mode, even if our proximity to each other was still only inches. Maybe that was part of the plan, to keep this a secret from the others. I wouldn't know until I asked. "What is it?"

"McGregor." He whispered, "Does that sound familiar?"

I nodded which bumped our foreheads slightly. "He's Balambian mob right?"

"Yes, he's been untouchable from us."

"Too dangerous?"

"No, it was a promise I made, well, a better word is deal." That surprised me but I was going to let him finish. "I don't have time to explain everything, but Seifer and I cannot take him out…actually, none of us can without me breaking that deal."

"Are you sure then?"

"Yes, it's time, he needs to go, I want you to do this for me."

"Shall I keep it separate from the Saints name?"

"No, I want him to know it was us, can you do this for me?"

"Yes." I placed a hot kiss on his lips to seal it.

He whispered into my lips, "I can't give you any advice or info on him, I'm sorry."

"It's okay."

"You have to do-"

"Everything myself," I finished for him. "That's why you trained me, I can do this Squall, I promise, you can trust me, I will do this."

I could feel Squall's smile spread against my lips. "You're amazing, you know that."

"I think you just get turned on by me kicking your ass." I was referring to earlier when I was screaming at him.

"Whatever." That's not denying it. "Get going."

I finally opened my eyes and stepped back. I was happy to see him open his eyes and I knew they were closed this entire time.

"I'm going, I'll see you soon, alright."

"Yeah." He answered cooly.

"Oh Squall?"

"Yeah?"

"Let's fucking get Blaine."

"Hell yeah."

I walked away staying strong because now my tears really wanted to flow. I saw everyone waiting for me, which meant they were watching us. I knew on the inside they were excited to see how me and Squall were just acting. However, the situation forced itself to show through their demeanor. Everyone held study stares prepared for us to move out. No more words needed to be said, everything was done through our eyes. When people are as close as us, things can't be put into words. I made sure to connect with everyone's eyes and they all met mine. This was it, we were retaking the city.

I stepped into the passenger side of the car. Selphie took the wheel, Quistis got in the back, and we exited the building. We pulled out of the building first. The others would wait a few minutes before leaving to give us some distance. That way we would make sure that we acted completely random in choosing our destinations and even our subconscious wouldn't affect our decisions.

It was a fitting heavy rain as we left, leaving large and small droplets on the windows. I leaned my head against the glass and looked up at the starless sky. It had been years since I saw any stars. That's the problem with city life. It was good tonight though, staring at the stars was an escape, and I wasn't escaping. I was staying grounded to this hellish city as I prepared my mind for the oncoming battle. It would be rough, I wasn't naïve enough to believe anything else. I know my place in this world now. I use to be a dreamer, a teenager, and an innocent unknowing bystander in this world. That's in the past. Now, I'm anything I want to be and soon, I will be the most terrifying person to ever sweep down upon this city. They will beg at my feet for mercy and plead for their lives. I will stare down with unwavering eyes as I laugh at the pitiful wicked ones and answer their pleas with a bullet.

Better watch your ass Blaine, I'm coming for you.

"So Rinoa what's it like kissing Squall?"

I blinked surprised from the sudden question. I turned to Selphie who asked it and she held a mischievous smile on her face. I frowned, "I was having a serious moment Selphie, you ruined it."

"Don't avoid the question," Quistis remarked and poked her head up between me and Selphie. "Tell us, how was it?"

"You guys stared enough," I laughed feeling my previous demeanor leaving.

"Did he tongue you?" Selphie was practically squealing.

"I'm not saying." I looked back out the window but I was smiling.

"Oh come on, we'll get it out of you eventually." Selphie chimed.

"Yeah, we have all the time in the world now," Quistis laughed.

That was true I suppose, I guess this didn't have to be all bad. I looked back at my two friends who looked at me eagerly. I stuck my tongue out before turning back to look out the window. I couldn't hold back the laugh as they complained loudly at my refusal to talk. Sometimes I forget, it's alright to just be a normal girl now and again.

* * *

**So Rinoa is slowly thinking more like Squall, but not entirely. I'll say this, in the next chapters look forward to seeing Rinoa being a badass. Though, I have to be honest, I might not be able to update this story until summer since this semester is really busy, so I hope this holds you over for a while. Also, do me a favor, hit up those reviews and show me some love for this story. **

** Also, just a small advertisement to myself, i started a blog reviewing video games because i have too much time on my hands (That's a joke, cause if i did i'd update this story more) There isn't much up there now, but there will be eventually, check it out, i'd really appreciate it. The web address is nconnorsreviews . blogspot . com minus the spaces of course. **


	21. Unleashed

**Rinoa's POV**

**March 24th **

"This should be good," I told Selphie. She pulled over and we all stepped out. We were deep in the lower west side of the city. The streets were disgusting, filled with trash, the sidewalk chipped and broken, and the buildings needed a new painting. Any further and we'd be in housing districts but technically we were still in the city. The buildings weren't skyscrapers by any means but some still towered close to ten stories. It was strange how one city could be so different. The different social classes was evident, it only took a thirty minute drive. The streets were empty except the occasional person. It was easy to see who belonged and who didn't. Any person walking quickly was clearly scared and trying to get the fuck out of here. Anyone who wasn't in a rush was probably homeless or a drug dealer. Stereotyping at its finest.

"Man this is worse than the last place," Selphie whined.

"Maybe you shouldn't have put your real names down on the register sheet in the last hotel." I shot back.

"For the hundredth time, we're sorry," Quistis apologized.

"Yeah, yeah." I waved her off. I wasn't in the best mood. We drove around all night looking for a good place. We needed a hotel that would take cash to stay off the computers. That meant they just had a piece of paper to sign your name. Quistis and Selphie actually signed their real names. I grabbed the sheet before the man saw it and walked out. I didn't tell them they shouldn't because I thought they _knew_. It was a realization to how little they actually knew when it came to the outside world of what we do. I love them both to death, but Quistis and Selphie were sheltered in the apartment. They were in for a rude awakening.

We grabbed the few bags we had and entered the hotel lobby. It was a shit-hole, but that was expected. The man behind the counter leaned against the counter bored. When we walked in, he perked up.

"W-welcome," He stuttered. Why did he stutter? "You looking for a room?" He spoke clearly that time. He was shocked to see us, which I could understand since we did stick out. We obviously didn't blend in, we'd have to work on our appearance later. But there was something off about this guy. He seemed rather nervous. It could be because he never saw three attractive girls walk into a shit-hole like this, but that wasn't it. I watched as his hands nervously grabbed onto the desk.

"Yes, we'd like a room," Quistis spoke.

"Cash or credit?" He asked.

"Cash," She answered.

"One hundred a night for a room," Not surprised by how cheap it was, "It will be one-fifty for a room with two beds, or you can pay by month. It doubles as an apartment, are you here long term or short term?"

"Short." I answered from behind Quistis.

"How many rooms?"

"One," I answered.

"How many beds?"

"One." I answered and this seemed to catch him by surprise.

"Alright." His eyes kept shifting between the three of us. "Here are your keys, we only have two per room." They were actual physical keys

Quistis took the keys, gave him the gil, and then we signed our names. I was happy to see they gave fake names. After I signed mine I stared at the hotel clerk for a moment. He didn't hold my gaze for long. "Have a nice stay." He told me while looking down.

"What's your name?" I asked sweetly.

This seemed to catch him off guard. "Uh i-it's Martez."

I didn't say anything more and walked away. Quistis and Selphie followed after me. We took the stares because the elevator looked iffy at best. We were four floors up. The hotel was terrible, but it was exactly what we wanted. We needed a terrible place to blend in for our operations. We wouldn't stay here long, we'd move within a few days, maybe sooner. It all depends on how things go, it was too early to plan anything.

We stood in front of our room when the door to the room next to us opened. It only cracked open and a young woman's head appeared in the crack. We didn't say anything as we waited for her to speak first.

"Is it just you three?" She asked, her voice barely a whisper.

Quistis was about to answer before I touched her back gently, signaling for her not to answer. I didn't know who this girl was, why was she asking such a question?

"Why?" I asked back calmly.

"You should find some men," She shut the door.

"Strange," Quistis spoke aloud.

"Sure is," I added before opening the door.

We stepped in and of course…it was a shit-hole. The room was small with only one bed, luckily a queen, one unstable looking desk, and a plain chair that looked as if it was stolen from a cafeteria. There was a TV on a tiny little stand that could collapse at any moment. There was a surprisingly large window at the far end, it was right at the foot of the bed. It was the only window but since it was big it let enough light in.

"Hey at least we get our own bathroom," Quistis commented as she opened the door leading to it just to our right. We all peaked in.

"Hey surprisingly it isn't _that_ dirty," Selphie was trying hard to stay positive. Because 'that' being the key word. I stepped in and looked around. The sink and toilet were directly at the opposite wall and to the left was the tub, that's all there was. There wasn't even a shower. I was okay with that, we'd most likely not take baths every day and that would make us slightly dirtier so we'd blend in better.

"Well this is depressing," Quistis mumbled.

"Sure is," I laughed, "Well, we gotta get use to this." I walked back to the room and placed my bags at the foot of the bed.

"So why only one bed?" Selphie asked.

"I don't trust this place," I told them sitting down on the bed testing it. "If we are all sleeping in one bed, most likely someone is going to be awake and uncomfortable. Even if we're all asleep, most likely it will be a light sleep since we'll be uncomfortable. That will make it hard for anyone to sneak in on us. It's a way of forcing someone to stay awake."

"Couldn't we just keep watch?"

"We still could, two people in the bed will be better, but I didn't want to force the idea. Besides," I looked around the room. "I get the feeling at night we are all going to cuddle up scared." I gave them an honest smile. "Place is terrifying isn't it?"

Quistis smiled back. "Yeah, it is."

"Kinda reminds me of home," Selphie smiled meekly. I forget that Selphie wasn't as lucky as me and Quistis. Quistis and I both come from rich families; Selphie lived like this all her life until she joined the Saints. Selphie realized the mood dampened so she pressed on. "So now what?"

"A few rules first." I stood up. "When I say I don't trust this place, I _really_ don't trust this place. No going out without telling someone first, I don't care if it is just down to the car. We need to always keep each other in check. Keep your bags packed, live out of them, we may need to leave in an instant.

"Does this place give you a bad feeling?" Quistis inquired.

I nodded. "Something doesn't feel right."

"What do you mean?" Selphie looked at me strangely. "Like…what?"

"I can't explain it." I walked over to the window to look out and get a good idea of where our room was in relation to where our car was on the street. "It's just something small, something that just makes your skin crawl. There's no hard proof or evidence. But just a shift of someone's eyes, the movement of their fingers, the smile, and then there was the girl next store who only reassures my feelings. You don't know these people so you can't be sure, but…you just know somehow."

"Seifer's talked about that," Quistis admitted. "He's had those same feelings at times when we're in the city. He'd make us leave a store or be quiet as he listened in a restaurant. One time he even made me get out of the taxi we were in and run half a block. He never could tell me why, just a feeling he had."

"Yeah, it's like that." I looked out the window and saw a couple guys standing at the corner of an alleyway.

"So, what's our plan?" Selphie asked.

I nodded out the window, "Once it gets darker we'll kill those guys down there."

"What!" Quistis exclaimed, "Already." They hurried over to the window to look out with me. "What did they do?"

"They're gangbangers."

"How do you know?"

I shrugged, "Just do."

"That's not a good enough reason to kill someone," Quistis argued.

"It is now," I looked her in the eye, "Didn't you hear Squall? We're letting loose, no mercy." Quistis didn't say anything but I could tell she wanted to. I looked at Selphie. "Oh yeah, you're coming."

* * *

Just as planned we waited until it was darker. Quistis and Selphie took a nap since we were up all night. I took that time to go shopping. I know I said to always make sure to let someone know, but that was for them, not me. I could handle myself fine. It was my chance to scope out the neighborhood and see what it was like. I also made sure to walk by the four guys who I thought were gangbangers. They actually grabbed my arm and warmed me to get out of their neighborhood, or else I'd be sorry. I gave them a scared look and ran away. It would set the mood for later. I knew sick fucks like these loved girls that were scared of them so I'd give it to them. Quistis was right that I had no proof, but they just had that look. I've killed enough to know one when I saw one.

I went to the closest convenience store I could find and bought a whole bunch of stuff, some small snacks and drinks but mostly chemicals that would ruin DNA samples. I warned Selphie and Quistis to keep a generic idea of what they touch, but splashing the entire room with bleach to prevent any accurate samples will be safe. I bought lots of hairspray, bug spray, and deodorant spray…all flammable, I am not above burning down that entire building if it will cover our tracks.

I stood by the window with the shades barely open to watch my target gangbangers. They sold some drugs as well, I'm sure that's why they were really on the corner. It was just pot and I could care less about that. Hell, Seifer sold worse drugs when he was a boy. But if they just sold weed that would be fine, but it was that look they had to them, I couldn't shake it. They were more than drug dealers and I'd prove it soon.

I waited until the sun was about to set, it would be harder to watch them once the sun went down. The problem was that the darker it was the more likely they'd make their move. I wanted them to strike, so I wanted it to be dark but at the same time, there weren't many street lights here which would make it dangerous. It was part of the reason I chose this hotel, knowing it wasn't well lit so we wouldn't be noticed as easily coming and going.

I dressed in skinny jeans and a halter top with a light blue jacket over that. I wish I brought some better shoes with me but I only had some well-formed sneakers. Selphie dressed in something similar to me, jeans and a loose top. If my intuition was right, these guys would like more innocent looking girls. They wanted to look big and manly. We'll that would be their mistake soon. Inside my jacket I wore my shoulder handgun holster, and placed my two custom handguns in it. Selphie carried her own pistol and stuffed it in the back of her jeans, it showed a little against her loose top but, she'd be behind me most of the time so it would be fine.

There was still some protest from Quistis about going but I assured her it was okay. I hope she wouldn't be trying to stop me from doing my work all the time, it could become problematic. Selphie looked nervous and I felt she was going to back out at any moment. Before she could, I grabbed her and rushed out the door. I kept her moving quickly so she wouldn't have time to really think about this. She needed to start taking on more responsibility, I would need her as back up and I couldn't have her hiding out in a safe place. Soon, we were already walking down the side walk towards where those four guys were loitering.

"I can't do this," Selphie squeaked out.

Saw that coming. "It'll be fine, I've taken out guys like this by myself."

"Then can't you just do it?"

"You need to start getting use to this."

"Well, can't we start some other time, with someone-"

"Now's as good as any," I looped my arm into hers to look like we were just friends walking to some party. I started walking a little more sloppy, nothing extreme, but to give off slight intoxicated vibe.

"Rinoa, I'm scared," She whispered as we could see the four guys ahead. I thought back to my first run with Squall, how terrified I was and how he took care of me. I needed to do that now for her. I wasn't worried, I could easily take out all four by myself but I needed her to get use to this. Every time she was in any danger before she would completely lose herself after it was over. There was no Irvine this time to comfort her so I needed her to start being able to handle this. Not to mention she refused to go with me to fight Blaine. I try not to blame her for what happened, but I can't help thinking how it would've played out if I had her for back up. She's not skilled in fighting, but it only takes one bullet to kill someone.

"Look," I told her gently, "If we walk by, and they don't do anything, then we won't either. Okay?"

She nodded hastily. I was basing this off a hunch, I was pretty sure I was right, but on the off chance I was wrong, then I wouldn't kill them. Maybe they were just trying to be cool gangster drug dealers.

"I thought I told you to get out of our neighborhood," The man guy from before spoke.

"Just stay behind me," I whispered to Selphie as I pushed her slightly behind me. I picked up our pace to look like we were trying to go by quickly. "And look scared."

"No problem," She joked, but her voice was definitely frightened.

The four men stepped in front of our path to block us. I turned around and the other guy stood behind us. I put my back to the street and Selphie behind me. The men stood one to our left, one to our right, and two in front of us. They didn't surround us, which was good.

"It's late out," One man said, "There are dangerous people around."

"Please, we don't want trouble," I made my voice sound pathetically scared. By the smile on their faces they enjoyed that, so I figured I'd give them a little more. "Please, we're just a little lost."

"That's for sure." One laughed. He nodded his head as the two guys to our sides started walking to get behind us.

I looked left and right quickly to get a good idea where the two guys were. One reached into his pocket and I'm sure he had a knife he was about to pull. The two in front of me didn't move yet, and both their arms were crossed, meaning they were unprepared. They wouldn't carry guns but blades, probably hidden in their pockets or duck-taped to their legs. Well…that's enough proof for me.

I smirked, this was far too easy, I missed killing scum like this. "Now," I hissed to Selphie.

I whipped out my two handguns in a flash, after hours of practicing drawing them I had it down flawlessly. I held my arms out wide, both guns pointing at the two guys to our sides. I looked left and shot him twice in the upper middle chest, he was dead instantly. I shot once to my right without looking knowing I'd hit him somewhere. I snapped my head to the right for the second shot which I buried into his heart to make sure he'd die. Before the two guys on the side could even fall to the ground, I moved my guns forward, one guy stood still like a dear in headlights, the other had quick reactions and was already running down the alleyway. I put an easy bullet into the man standing still, a clean headshot. I lowered my left gun and aimed my right one. I peered over the top and pulled the trigger. My bullet dug into his leg as he collapsed to the ground. I shot him again and I think I hit his ass. He kept crawling trying to get away.

I lowered my weapon and looked at Selphie frozen behind me. "Shoot him." I told her.

She didn't respond.

"Shoot him." I said again.

She took a step back.

I moved behind her wrapping my arms around her. It was half an embrace as I slowly stepped forward forcing her to move as well. She didn't push back but she didn't stop forward freely either. I kept forcing her to move until we stood only a few feet away from the man. He was crying as he clawed at the dirty ground.

"Shoot him," I said into her ear.

She shook her head.

"Shoot him."

"No, don't make me." She was crying, I could hear it in her voice.

"Don't hesitate," I told her, "I hesitated and Blaine almost killed me. That is the last thing you can do." Everything always goes back to Blaine.

"Please don't kill me," He whined. He stopped crawling because he knew it was useless. His head was turned to the side to look at us. "Please, please, I don't wanna die." It reminded me of my bloody first kill. The man begging for his life as I plunged a knife into his chest. It was horrible but it changed me for the better in the end.

'I-I can't do it," She pressed back against me but I held my ground.

"He's a wicked man," I spoke twisted words into her ear. "He's a rapist. He takes advantage of women." Again, no actual proof, but I was sure enough…

"I can't!" She cried out, "I'm sorry!"

I drew her pistol and grabbed her hand. I forced it into her hand and then forced her hand to aim at the man. She tried to let go of the gun but my grasp was firm and I wasn't budging.

"Think about your mother." She stopped squirming in my embrace. "She was raped by someone like this. He took her into an alley and held her down and raped her. Think about that, your sweet mother being taken advantage of. How she screamed for help as some disgusting guy was inside of her. You know her pain, you know the effect these guys have. End it right now, take this rapists life. All his sins, all his wicked deeds, this is his punishment. Do it. Shoot him!" I screamed in her ear.

And Selphie did. She shot him in the back once, then twice, then she continued to pull the trigger until the gun was empty. He took every bullet in his back and died at some point during the middle.

I let go of Selphie and stepped back. "Good work."

She spun around and slapped me hard across my face. "Who the fuck do you think you are!" She shouted. "What are you trying to do, twist my mind! Don't you dare mention my mom like that, to use as a vice to kill!" She was sobbing heavily, but when I reached for her she batted my hand away.

"Go back to the room," I told her, "I'll take care of the bodies."

She dropped her gun on the ground and quickly got out of the alley. I picked it up and put it in the rim of my pants. "She'll thank me someday." I told myself that, but I really wondered…would I thank Squall someday for directly causing me to kill?

It took a while but I was able to get all the bodies to the nearby dumpster. The police would find them eventually, there was blood all over the place, but that needed to be reported. I doubt anyone around here would report anything. It bought us time and I wanted to see how people would react to the gunfire. I had silencers but I specifically didn't use them. Maybe it was nothing new, or maybe cops would roll up any moment. I wanted to see how this area would react.

When I entered the hotel room Selphie was crying on the bed next to Quistis. The blonde jumped to her feet and marched over to me. "How could you make her do something like that!" I stared back at the blonde thinking about how to choose my words. "Answer me!"

I walked over to Selphie and knelt down. She turned her head away from me. "I'm sorry Selphie, I know that was bad, and I know how it can affect you."

"Then why?" She looked at me.

I placed my hand on her knee. "I can't do everything alone. I'll need you there with me."

"Why not Quistis?"

Because Quistis can't shoot a gun or fight but I didn't say that. "She has to be the hacker, you know that."

Selphie looked away from me. "I really don't want to do this."

I stood up, "Tough, we are doing this."

"Who put you in charge?" Quistis demanded.

I don't know, Squall for starters. I glared at the blonde and opened my mouth to speak but I shut it quickly. This could get out of hand real fast, we needed to work as a team. "Look, we're all a little tired." I paused and thought which words to use. "Let me take my bath, afterwords, we can discuss this. I'm not trying to boss you guys around."

"You're bath can wait," Quistis argued.

I closed my eyes, she was starting to get on my nerves. "You know why I take them, it's to get my mind focused and wash the blood off. If you want to have this conversation now, it will become a screaming match. I'm trying to stay calm, so let me take my bath, get my thoughts organized, and we'll have a discussion."

"It's okay," Selphie told me, "I know that's what you guys all do."

She was referring to the rest of the group. After any one of us goes out and kills people, when we come back we all have our own ritual. It's impossible to blend back into regular society after slaughtering people. There is a transition period that takes place and that's how we keep our sanity. We don't ignore what we do, we ponder and think about it, and it works. No one even told me about it, by watching the others I discovered myself, and I didn't even realize, I was practicing this transitional idea already. I use to come back covered in blood, and I'd take a bath to wash it all off. Those baths extended for long periods of time as I thought about what took place that night. That became my ritual, I'd take a bath for a long time to contemplate what previously transpired. Irvine would stay down in the shooting range for hours, and Zell would mediate on the roof for as long as he needed. Squall and Seifer would lock themselves in the gym and spar. That's what they said, but I got the feeling they would just talk. We all had something and it kept us sane. Selphie needed that, and I already knew she had one but didn't realize that.

"You have one too Selphie," I told her, "Work with your tools." I nodded at her bag that had all her explosive equipment in it. "That'll give you time to reflect."

She nodded and I took that as my signal that I could go into the bathroom. I grabbed my soap I brought with me, it gives off an amazing aroma that blocks the smell of everything else. I entered the bathroom, shut the door, turned on the water, put a cap of soap in, and stripped. I found the towels in the cabinet underneath the sink. They seemed clean enough, I took one and wiped down the tub that was filling with water. It seemed clean as well, which was surprising, but I just wanted to give it my own quick cleaning as well. Once the tub was filled I slipped in. The water was hot, almost unbearably so, but that's how I liked it. The tub was small and my legs were bent causing my knees to stick out of the top of the water. I folded a wash cloth and placed it behind my neck for support. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the feeling of the heat against my body.

I didn't move for probably twenty minutes. Not even a single thought passed through my mind. I could hear the TV on a low volume through the thin walls, but that was all. Even after a few minutes I tuned that out, I loved the quiet. Soon I'd start thinking about what I'd say to Selphie and Quistis. I really shouldn't have made Selphie go through with my plan like that, but what's done is done. I also had to think about what our future plans were.

I glanced over at my pile of clothes and my two custom handguns were resting on them. I reached over, causing water to spill on the floor, and grabbed one of them. I settled myself back in the tub and stretched my legs out. My feet popped out of the water as I rested them on the end of the top. I slid the magazine out and checked the bullets left in it; there were four left in the mag, that meant this was the gun that was in my left hand earlier. I popped the magazine back in and pulled back the slide only a little to look at the bullet in the chamber to see the fifth. I flipped the safety on and off. I loved the two handguns, they were my Christmas present. Silver with ivory white handles, golden screws in those handles, and best of all, the engraved jolly rodger pirate symbol across the side. Made in Balamb and with no registered serial number, it was impossible to track. They were modeled after Desert Eagles which meant they had a lot of kick. It took a while to get used to the kick but hours in the shooting range accomplished that. Now they were my best weapon and deadly as the devil himself.

"I wonder if they can shoot underwater?" I mumbled to myself. I stuck it underneath the water without hesitation. I twisted it back and forth underwater before resting it on my stomach. I wanted to shoot right away but I couldn't actually fire a gun inside this hotel. But thinking about it, maybe the water would silence the noise so no one would hear? Common sense tells me the bullet wouldn't travel as fast since obviously water is thicker than air, maybe it wouldn't even embed itself into a wall so there wouldn't be evidence. Hell, maybe it wouldn't even shoot. Although, maybe it would shoot just like normal, make a loud noise, and lodge itself into the wall. That wouldn't be good. I definitely had to test this at some point but now was not the time.

**Boom.**

I froze, that wasn't me. It was a lot louder than a handgun, that was a fucking shotgun and it was nearby. No, not just nearby, it was in the hallway, and worse, it sounded right outside our door.

"Rinoa!" Selphie cried.

I didn't answer, I was thinking, obviously they just shot at our door. Except there was a pause…they missed the lock, there would be another shot soon. It should've been right away but it wasn't for some reason. I heard the pump of the shotgun all the way in the bathroom and I realized the man didn't pump it after.

**Boom**.

Following the second shot I could hear the door fly open and bang into the wall. Quistis and Selphie screamed but I didn't move. I was in the bathtub, defenseless…well that's what I wanted them to think. I didn't lock the bathroom door and it flew open as a man stepped in. He was skinny and only average height. He was dressed in all black including a black ski mask pulled over his head. He held a simple five-shooter revolver and aimed it at me threateningly. I could tell by his visible eyes he was a little shocked to see me naked in the tub.

"Get out!" He shouted.

I clicked my tongue, "I think I'll stay."

"Get out!" He yelled marching up to me reaching his hand out to grab me.

Dumbass.

I swung fast and batted away his hand that held the revolver, he was so shocked by this, the gun went flying out of his hand against the wall. I grabbed his free hand and pulled him into the tub while sliding down underneath the water. I raised my legs and wrapped them around his neck tightly. I twisted to get better leverage so I was now lying on my right side in the tub facing the doorway. I moved my handgun to my left hand and used my now free right hand to push my head above the water. In doing so, I bent my legs and lowered them so the attacker's head plunged under the water. His hands grabbed my legs as he tried to pry himself free. He was upside down so his legs flailed helplessly in the air and didn't provide him with any leverage. Being strangled and drowning at the same time…that's gotta suck.

"How many more are there!" I shouted.

"Two!" Quistis yelled back.

In another second a man dressed the same way as the first entered into the bathroom. He also held a five-shooter pistol. He screamed at me to release his friend as he hurried to the side of the tub. I swear, people don't realize guns are a long distance weapon. I reacted swiftly again as I grabbed his gun hand. I pulled him towards me while making sure to keep the gun not pointing at me. He fell into the tub as well and one bullet went off but dug into the wall right next to me. My ears rang slightly from the close proximity of the gun to my ears. I twisted my body so my back was resting against the end of the tub. I kept my legs as they were, it was uncomfortable, but the first invader was still struggling for air. My right hand was now free since it wasn't propping up my body anymore. I released the gun from my left hand and felt it fall to my chest. I wrapped my left arm tightly around the man's neck as my right hand simultaneously found his gun still in his hand. I pried it from his hand and tossed it out of the tub. I then grabbed my custom handgun off my chest and jammed it into his screaming mouth. I lifted my legs slightly and the first attacker's head breeched the water as he took a loud gasping breath. After two seconds I lower my legs back into the tub to continue drowning him.

The second man was virtually sitting on me at this point. Our heads were extremely close since my arm was around his neck. My chin was almost touching the handle of my gun. My head was barely above the water, but it was above it and that's all that mattered. His scared eyes gave away his demeanor. They couldn't look away from me as I felt his tongue press awkwardly against my gun in his mouth. One hand was pressing against my thigh for leverage to stay above the water and his other was grabbing my left arm wrapped around his neck.

"Well, this is quite the predicament, isn't it?" I spoke calmly meeting his terrified eyes. "You came busting into this room hoping to find weak and scared tenants, well that backfired now didn't it? You were hoping to take advantage of us weren't you?" I chuckled menacingly, "Well, I'm naked in a tub, is this not what you wanted, although, there is something in your mouth and I bet you didn't want that. Roles reversed huh?" He tried saying something but it's always hard to understand someone with a gun in their mouth. "I'm actually happy you came. Yes, I know, hard to believe but I am."

"What's going on in there!" It was a man who said it so it must've been the third person who broke in.

I ignored him for now as I continued to talk, but first I lifted my legs a little to allow the first man to take another gasp of air before lowering him back down. He was fighting less and I knew he was getting tired and weaker overall, that's what I wanted. "You see, I was just having the most scientific discussion with myself," I informed the man who was seconds away from pissing himself. "I wondered if this gun would shoot underwater or not, and I guess that also relays into if it can shoot even after having been soaked. Interesting isn't it? You can nod." I moved my gun up and down allowing his head to move with it. "I thought you might agree. So it really comes down to a simple question. If I pull the trigger will your brains blow out of your head? Or will I just have to shove the entire gun down your throat until you die? Regrettably, not a good outcome for you either way."

"Hey!" I looked over to see the third man pop his head in.

"Oh come join us, I'm giving a science lesson."

"You two!" He shouted back Selphie and Quistis, "Inside the bathroom." They quickly shuffled in both looking scared. "Against the far wall." They did as told but they were staring at me currently holding down two guys. The third man held the shotgun and he pointed it at me. "Let them go!"

"I was just asking your friend here if he thinks this gun would shoot after having been underwater. What do you think?"

"I think you should let them go!" He demanded.

"One second," I told him sweetly, I lifted my legs slowly so the first man could get another quick breath of air. He didn't have time for anything else as I plunged his head back underneath. He barely struggled anymore, it was getting harder to tell if he was just tired or actually dead. I looked over at Quistis and Selphie, they were a mixture between scared shitless and stupidly surprised. "Shall we take bets on if this gun will go off or not?" I asked openly to the room.

"Let them go!" The man was smart enough to stay near the doorway and not walk over to the tub.

I looked at the man whose mouth had my gun in it. "What about you? Do you think it'll go off?" He didn't answer, not surprised. "I'd ask the man currently drowning but I think he's preoccupied. What about you, shotgun sir?"

"If it goes off, you're all dead, and if it doesn't go off, you're still all dead." He threatened.

I smiled, "Well that was dumb, if those are my two options I might as well pull the trigger. Maybe if you say, 'we'll leave if you let us all go' I won't shoot."

"Not gonna happen, bitch," He was nervous but at least smart, he must've been the leader among the three. "I have a shotgun while you have a handgun that might not even shoot."

"Isn't it interesting," a twisted smile smeared across my face. "Is my gun even loaded? Have you thought about that? Why would I have a loaded gun in the bathtub? Am I bluffing? Or am I for real? Maybe I already know the answer, and it will shoot perfectly fine? Now isn't this just tense, who knows what is going to happen. All we can do, is sit here and wait, which I'm content with since I'm taking a bath, I'm nice and relaxed."

"Shut the fuck up!" He shouted.

The man between my legs stopped moving and I raised his head above the water. He took in a desperate shallow breath and I plunged him back underneath. "You also have to take into consideration you have a shotgun, if you shoot, you will most likely hit your friends. That's not good, that wouldn't solve anything."

"Let them go."

"Then you'd shoot me." I gaped. "You're not a very good negotiator are you?"

"Bitch, you're trying my last nerve!" He exclaimed.

I looked at Quistis, "Quistis, what do you think? Will it fire?"

"Uh…m-maybe?"

"Selphie?"

"Yes." It was a straight answer and her eyes were telling me she knew exactly what she was talking about. "Like that _one _time at the beach." We never went to the beach, that was a code the group had. If there was ever a number in a sentence that never actually happened, the number was the key. Selphie was telling me it would only shoot once.

"Let them go!" The man shouted and pointed the gun at Selphie and Quistis. They both turned their gaze to the deadly weapon aiming at them.

"Your friend isn't struggling anymore," I said nodding my head at the man who was seconds away from really drowning this time.

The man didn't know what to do, he was frantically looking back and forth between me, Selphie, and Quistis. His gun was slowly starting to shake and I knew he was losing his cool. I could feel the man between my legs finally stop moving and I knew he was dead, just in time too. The man seemed to notice this and he decided to move the gun back to me. I saw it coming and the very moment I saw his arm move even the slightest I made my move. I twisted my body more freely, not worrying about the man drowned. I pulled my gun out of the second man's mouth, as I twisted I brought the second man to the right side of the tub. I slid down low beneath the water at the same time. The third man with the shotgun, noticing my quick movements, fired his shotgun. It shattered some of the tub and the buckshot embedded into the man I put between us as a shield. I released him and rose to my knees aiming the gun at the third man's head. He aimed the shotgun at me and pulled the trigger but nothing happened.

"First time using a shotgun huh?" I taunted, "You always forget to pump it right away." I didn't waste any more time as I pulled the trigger and true to Selphie's word, the bullet came screaming out and driving straight into the man's head. I stepped out of the tub and grabbed my other gun which was still lying on the pile of clothes. I went back over to the tub and buried a bullet into the drowned man's head. Then into the second man whose chest was ripped open form the shotgun, I didn't care, I was pissed.

"How'd you know only one bullet?" I asked Selphie.

She was staying at the tub wide-eyed as she answered me almost robotically. "A gun's mechanical it can work when wet, but water slows the chamber down, so it might jam. You gun didn't, so it could shoot again, but saying one bullet was to be safe."

"Noted."

"What the fuck was that!" Quistis exclaimed.

"I don't know, but I'm gonna find out." I grabbed my panties on the floor and slid them on. I grabbed a towel and wrapped it around myself. I didn't put on my clothes for a couple reasons. Any didn't want to waste any extra time and a girl in a towel would surprise more enemies. There hesitation would be their death. I grabbed the shotgun from the dead man. "Stay here, get weapons and keep them aimed at the door. I'll let you know when I'm back, anyone else, shoot without asking questions."

They nodded their understanding. I moved into the other room and searched in our money bag. It had a lot of cash in it and I grabbed a single stack of gil. I rushed out of the room and over to our neighbor. I knocked on the door patiently.

"Who is it?" The girl meekly asked from inside.

"Your neighbor who was almost just murdered," I called back sweetly, "I'd like a word with you."

"I-I don't think that's a good idea."

"I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll use this _fucking_ _shotgun_ to blow your door down!" I screamed. "Open it!"

The door opened rather quickly but just barely as the woman peered out like before. "I'm sorry."

"So you did know this would happen? Are you part of it?"

She quickly shook her head. "No! I swear!"

I held up the stack of bills in the crack of the doorway and I could see her eyes lustily looking at it. "I'll give you all this if you just tell me what's going on."

"They'll kill me."

I smiled, "Honey, they're all going to be dead very soon, so don't worry about that."

"W-well…" I brushed the money against my chin as it flipped like pages in a book. It drew her eye hungrily. "The desk clerk downstairs." She finally said.

"He isn't the leader," I stated back, he was far too nervous this morning to be the leader.

She shook her head. "He calls someone when only girls pick a room. Then this guy comes and waits outside. Other guys will come in and you know…"

"Always the same guys?"

She shook her head.

"Has this happened to you?" I asked.

She nodded.

"Why?"

"They steal everything for the man in the car, and they're reward is…" She trailed off.

"They get the girls." I clicked my tongue, oh yeah, people were going to die real soon.

"I wanted to tell you but I was afraid." She opened the door wider.

I smiled, "Take that money, and go live someplace else." I handed her the money then started walking away. "Old buildings like these always have a habit of catching on fire."

I walked down the stairs briskly in a towel with the shotgun held down at my side. I strolled up to the desk, happy to see Martez was still there. "Oh Mar-tezz." I song out. "I have a room complaint."

He saw me in my towel and the shotgun. It took him about two seconds to make a sprint for the door. I pumped the gun and aimed low, fired. Goodbye right leg. He fell to the ground screaming in pain. I pumped the gun and draped it over my shoulder. I strolled up to him, grabbed his shirt, and flipped him over to face me.

"Martez, darlin', you have some talking to do."

"It hurts!" He cried out. "I should be in shock! Oh God it hurts so much!"

I casually placed the butt of the shotgun onto his barely attached leg. He began crying in pain from the pressure on his wound. "It isn't that bad, I'll call an ambulance and get you out of here. Just tell me what's going on here?"

"I don't know!"

"Bullshit." I pressed harder.

"No really," He cried out in more pain. "I have to call whenever girls come, otherwise they'd kill me. The guy is outside! I don't like to do it! I swear! Please, it hurts! Help me!"

"Nope you're pretty much dead," I swung the shotgun over my shoulder and strolled away. "Enjoy the last few moments of your life, I suggest praying to whatever god you believe in."

I ignored his screams as I headed outside. I held the shotgun behind my back as I stepped into the cool night air. I looked around and saw a car parked close to the entrance, that would be it. Close so they could get away quickly. There was a man sitting in the driver's seat but he was looking down. What a terrible lookout. I strolled up to the car with both my hands behind my back. I did it in a way that it would at least seem like I was just trying to be cute. He didn't notice me until I was right next to his car window. I knocked on the window and smiled brightly. "Hello, can you help me?"

He cracked the window about an inch. "Piss off."

"I got locked out of my room," I giggled like a stupid girl. "The clerk is gone, he's always disappearing. Do you have a phone I could use to call my friend?"

"I said piss off," He growled.

"Oh please," I whined and bent over slightly making sure some of my wet hair fell over my eyes. Popping my breasts out for more cleavage to show. A soaked girl standing in a towel outside. What man wouldn't fall for this?

"Bitch, get away from my car before I call the police." He threatened.

I frowned and dropped my façade. That's a blow to the self-esteem. "Fuck this shit." I brought up the shotgun in a reverse grip and slammed the butt of the gun into the window. It shattered instantly. I then slammed the butt into the man's face, hard too, his nose was gushing blood. I grabbed his hair and started yanking him through the window, since he wasn't wearing a seatbelt I didn't have to worry about that but he was still resisting. I leaned the shotgun against the car quickly as I used my second hand to grab his shirt and pull him through. He eventually came out of the window and fell onto the ground. I grabbed the shotgun and raised it high into the air. Like a professional golfer, I swung the shotgun as hard as I could and it collided with his kneecap, instantly breaking it. He screamed in pain as he rolled around on the ground. I bent down and reached into his jacket he was wearing. I found a handgun and put it between the towel and my cleavage…I had nothing else to hold it, I might as well make use of what I was born with.

I looked around and noticed to teenagers watching me with wide terrified eyes. I brushed the shotgun to the side, "Move along." They did so at an impressing pace. I grabbed the man's hair again and began walking back to the hotel. Both his hands grabbed mine, and his non broken leg kicked on the ground to try and gain leverage. We entered the hotel and the clerk wasn't moving anymore, and there was a good amount of blood around him. This was getting messier and messier by the second.

"You fucking bitch!" He screamed. "Do you know who I work for!"

"That's what I'm going to find out," I answered.

I figured I'd use the elevator this time since the stairs would be a little ridiculous at this rate. That wasn't saying much since standing in an elevator, holding a man's hair, as he cried out in pain from his busted knee, listening to the music and do nothing but wait. It was a new experience I'll admit that. Once we got to our floor I kept dragging him until I stood in front of our room.

"Selphie, Quistis, it's me."

"Thank God, you're alright," Selphie exclaimed.

I opened the door and poked my head through. "I'm fine, anyone bother you guys."

Selphie shook her head.

"Rinoa, I'm sorry, I misjudged you," Quistis told me honestly. "I trust you from now on."

"Wonderful," I opened the door the rest of the way and walked in with my new hostage.

"What the fuck!" Quistis exclaimed.

I smiled, "Don't you trust me?"

"Who's that?" Selphie was as startled as Quistis.

"Well that's what we're going to find out," I yanked the man inside and dropped him on the ground. I reached into his pockets until I found his wallet. I grabbed the one simple desk chair in the room and placed it in front of the window. I pulled the man and forced him into the chair. "Arms on the arms, legs at the legs."

"My knees fucking busted." He growled.

"Fine, you get that one leg free, what a complainer." I turned to the two girls. "Selphie, please watch the door to make sure no one else comes in. Quistis, be a dear and hand me the duct tape." They did as told and I went about duct taping the man to the chair.

"Now what?" Quistis asked.

I sat down on the bed and crossed one leg over another. I laid the shotgun down next to me and I also took that annoying gun out of my cleavage. I flipped my hair so it was behind me, it was still soaking wet and clung to me annoyingly. I gave the man a very obvious look. "Tell us who you are, who you work for, and why you do this?"

"Why should I?" He snorted out some blood. "You'll just kill me."

"You're dying no matter what." I told him seriously. "You know their names, and my name is Rinoa. You aren't leaving alive. But I'm a generous person, and I'm allowing you the chance of choosing your death."

"Kill me," He laughed, "I'm dead no matter what, I don't give a shit what you do to me."

I nodded my head at the box of various flammable sprays. "I might set you on fire if you don't change your mind."

"Go for it," He met me with even eyes. "You need information and I'm not telling. So just fucking do it already."

"Well look at the size of your balls," I stood up and waltzed over to him. I placed my hand on his crotch. He didn't react in the slightest. I frowned and stood back up straight. I stared at him for a moment before I undid my towel. I stood at him open chest and he just eyed me like I was crazy. I wrapped the towel back around myself. I sat back on the bed and openly pouted. "You know how to make a girl feel like shit."

"You're ugly, not my fault."

I sighed, "You might be a little tougher to crack than I thought. But that tells me you actually are of some importance. Those three guys earlier were just lackeys, you aren't the big boss, but you're _a_ boss. So tell me, who's the big boss."

"I said, go fuck yourself." He spat bloody saliva at me. It missed but I understood what he was trying to say.

I opened his wallet and began rustling around in there. I glanced at him and could see he was slightly worried, that meant something in here was worth seeing. I found the normal amount of random gift cards, credit cards, gil, driver's license. It wasn't until I found pictures that I finally understood. "That's why!" I exclaimed laughing. I held up a picture of a blonde man I found in his wallet. "You're gay! No wonder why." He didn't respond which told me I was right. "Man, you're my nightmare. I've been trained to seduce all men but a gay man, that's tough."

"Tch, so what."

I looked in the wallet some more and found more pictures. They weren't easy to find, some were folded up multiple times and stuffed between cards. When I emptied the entire wallet I looked over all the information and began piecing things together.

"You're in the mob." I looked at him and his face gave it away. "This has mob all over it. Hiring street scum to rob a place and rewarding them with women so you don't need to pay them. You're the only one in the actual mob, I can tell by how tough you are, but that didn't give it away. You're hiding the fact you're gay, mobs are never too keen on having homosexuals. That also means…the mob doesn't know about your little boyfriend here." I held up a picture of the blonde man who was fairly attractive. "I've always liked gay men, sadly, they don't like me…you know, 'cause, they're gay."

"Just fucking kill me already, there's no reason to go through all this."

I crossed one leg over the other and leaned back casually on the bed. "Well that isn't true. You're right, you don't give a shit about your life, you're a good lackey, you won't give up information. This leads to the problem because I need that information. If you don't tell me, I have to do bad things."

"I don't care what you do to me."

I shook my head, "Not to you, your boyfriend." His eyes widened in fear and that's exactly what I wanted. "He doesn't know you're in the mob, which means, he could be a good guy. I don't like killing good people it goes against what I believe in."

"Saints!" He cried out suddenly. "Oh shit." He lowered his head. "Oh man, I can't fucking believe this, why me?"

"Ah so you realize who you're messing with now." I laughed to put him on edge a little more. "Then you also know, we don't kill innocent people."

"Terry's innocent!" He cried out. "Please don't hurt him."

"That's up to you." I told him and looked over at Quistis. "Bring me the waste basket please, and some bug spray." She did as told and placed them in front of me. She went to stand back over near Selphie, as far away from this man as possible. I grabbed the bug spray and sprayed it in the small metal wastebasket. I reached behind me for a pillow and took off its case. I threw that in the basket as well and sprayed more bug spray inside. "Lighter?" I asked and Quistis put a pack of matches in my hand.

"What are you doing?" The man asked.

I picked up his driver's license, "I don't think you two live together, that would be too easy for the mob to catch you. But I bet if I searched your place, I'd find out where Terry lives." I waved the driver's license in front of him. "And you live at 35th and 88th, apartment number 409. That doesn't sound too bad. Now, I've only glanced at that once so I won't remember it long, and I am willing to burn one piece of information out of your wallet for every piece of information you give me. Understand?"

He nodded. "Alright, alright."

"We'll start simple, what's your name?" I asked.

"Scott Jones."

"Are you fucking kidding me!" I cried out and waved his license. "I have your name right in my hand, why are you lying to me! Are you stupid, Henry Flan!"

"Sorry!" He exclaimed. "It's a habit, it's what the mob knows me as."

"Don't lie to me," I warned him. "You think a busted knee is bad? Want two broken toes on top of that, trust me, it sucks."

"Alright, alright, I'll answer anything, just don't hurt Terry. He doesn't know what I do, he has nothing to do with any of this."

"Then answer my questions, and everything will be fine." I told him and he nodded. "Who do you work for? What mob?"

"Balamb mob." That was surprising…it couldn't possibly be…

"McGregor?"

"Yes."

I smiled, "That's incredible because I was looking for McGregor." I lit the match and dropped it in the wastebasket. It instantly ignited and I dropped two credit cards inside the bin.

"Well everyone knows where he lives."

"Yes, that's true." I let out a deep sigh as I switched my legs for the right one to rest on top now. "Well although you answered my question, you just dug yourself into a hole. Now you need to give me something good on McGregor or Terry is not walking away from this either."

"What are you talking about!" He yelled. "What could I have on him?"

I shrugged, "Start talking. I want his life story."

"I don't know that much, I'm not that high in the family!" He cried out.

"You must know something," I leaned forward on my right knee. "Come on, I know you know something."

"I don't!" He screamed, "Please, I don't even know what house he stays in, it's all random so people won't know."

"That's not looking too good."

"He always travels with this one bodyguard," He shouted. "Big ass dude, could knock anyone out. Use to be an underground boxer back in Balamb. He's tough as nails, you have to worry about him to get to McGregor."

I weighed my head, "I guess that's good." I dropped in three pictures of Terry, only leaving one left. "More."

"I don't know what else." He pleaded with me.

"Something." I could see him rack his mind thinking of anything. He must really love Terry because he was giving up anything on his boss. I got lucky with this one.

"Wait, wait." I could see in his eyes he knew something.

"Go on."

"This is big," He met my gaze. "I mean huge, I want you to burn everything and I'll tell you."

"You think I'm fucking retarded?" I deadpanned, "Who would ever agree to that."

"It's worth it, I promise I'll tell you after." He was really pleading with me now. I could see the pain of his knee was starting to get to him as more and more sweat appeared on his face.

"I don't buy it," I told him honestly, "I've always burned the info as soon as you talk, you can trust me."

"Fine," He grunted out. "Burn everything but the driver's license, after I tell you, burn that as well. Please, I swear I'm not trying to trick you, this is big. This is exactly what the Saints are looking for."

He got my interest that was for sure but I still didn't know if I could trust him. I decided the license was the most important anyways so I could go along with it. I dropped the rest of the information into the big and it was already beginning to melt down. It smelled like shit and was smoking up the room, the fire alarm would go off soon and that was the point.

"Talk."

"Okay, get this," He leaned forward. "McGregor called a meeting of all this big names."

"Name them."

"The five other fucking mob bosses!" He exclaimed. "You should know. Don't you get it, the five most powerful people in the underworld are going to be in one spot and I know where. McGregor's mansion on the upper north side, it is the only place that is defended enough to have all those people together. I had to deliver the message to Toothless, I swear its happening. In three weeks, they're meeting at McGregor's, I promise you."

"Why?"

"To discuss Blaine." Henry choked out. "They're as scared of him as you are, but they want to make an alliance with him. That's what they're there to discuss."

I had to contain my smile, this was too good, this was the fucking jackpot! "You just gave up every mob boss," I looked him seriously in the eye. "Why?"

"I love Terry," He was starting to cry. "Please, I know you don't hurt good people, and I can't see him hurt for something I did. So please leave him alone."

I dropped the final information I had, his license into the fire, "Terry will be fine."

"Thank you." He seemed to relax.

"But like I promised, you won't be." I stood up and grabbed the shotgun. I pressed the end directly between his eyes.

He chuckled soberly, "Isn't that overkill?"

I shrugged uncaring, "I've had a hell of a day, this'll take the edge off."

And I pulled the trigger and the window behind him was shattered. The wall surrounding the window was splattered with pieces of his head. I wasn't surprised to hear Quistis start vomiting behind me. Selphie was almost at the point but she could stomach it a little better.

"Rinoa, you are disgusting me!" Quistis exclaimed. "To use someone's loved one's against them like that. It's sick." She wiped her chin of her spit mixed with vomit and sent me a hard glare.

"Oh you think so," I met her gaze smugly. "Seifer taught me that trick, maybe you should go speak with him." The look she gave me showed she never thought Seifer would do that. She really didn't know him as well as I thought.

I didn't waste time anymore, the trash bin was still burning. I grabbed the box of all the flammable sprays and tossed it into the bathroom. They clanged on the tile floor as they spread out. I kept one spray bottle and walked over to the bed. I've never done it before, but making a simple flame-thrower was easier than I thought. One small light and can of deodorant spray, that's all it takes. I lit the bed sheets on fire and then moved to the curtains near the window.

"What the fuck are you doing!" Quistis exclaimed.

"Better grab your things."

"Where are we going?" Selphie asked wide-eyed as she watched the place light up in flames.

"35th and 88th, apartment number 409," I chimed. They gave me a look like I was a sadist. "Oh come on, you should know from the start I was going to raid his place still."

"So you were lying to him the whole time!" Quistis shouted.

I clicked my tongue in annoyance. "Do you really wanna stand here in this room on fire and discuss how I lied to a man with no head?" I didn't wait for her answer and I grabbed the waste basket that was still on fire from burning his ID cards. I dropped the deodorant spray can into the wastebasket and slid it into the bathroom, which also had the other spray cans all scattered across the floor. I was happy to see Selphie and Quistis had all their things in order. "Only a matter of time until that blows."

"Are you crazy!" Quistis screamed.

"Rinoa, what are you doing?" Selphie begged.

"We're the chaos team," I gave them an honest look. "I'm spreading chaos."

* * *

**Squall's POV**

"I want all the dirt you have on everyone in the entire city, do you understand me Fujin?" Seifer told the girl.

She nodded and looked over at Raijin. "Hey Seifer, are things getting dangerous, do we need to like…leave the city or something, ya know?"

"It'll be fine guys," Seifer comforted his long time friends. "I'm sorry for always putting you in tight spots, but we're making our move now, we're taking the city back."

"It's about time, ya know."

"Hey, boy-o" I looked to see my old friend Nida stepping into the die-bar.

"Ah, it's been a fuckin' while, ain't it?" I replied quickly, making sure to use my native Balambian accent.

"What kinda shyte bar am I walkin' in?" He laughed as I shook his hand.

"Old pals o'mine." I nodded at the other three people in the bar. "T'is here is me best mate, Seifer, and his two buds, Raijin and Fujin."

"Pleasure," He said to them quickly, "So, wanna tell me why I'm in such a fuckin' shyte hole?"

I smirked, "I was wonderin', don't ya think it's time to get the old band back together?"

He met my gaze, "Are ya givin' me the go ahead?"

"I wanna run d'ese streets, boy-o." I put my fist on his chest. "Start the killin'."

I was met with a sinister grin and I returned it with my own. Blaine may think he's got me all figured out, but I have contingencies for everything. That includes the world going to shit.

* * *

**Irvine's POV. **

"Hey man, it'll be alright," I put a comforting hand on Zell's shoulder. "We'll get her back after all this, alright?" He was gazing out the window and didn't respond to me. Man this was going to be tough if he was like this the whole time. I understand he's upset, I couldn't imagine doing that with Selphie. But he needs to pull through.

"Pull over."

"What?"

"Pull over." It was an angry whisper, and I never heard Zell like this.

"I don't think that's a good idea." I told him honestly.

"Pull the fucking car over, Irvine!" His head snapped towards me and gave me a deadly glare, I don't think I've ever seen Zell like this.

I pulled the car over and stopped. He got out of the car and I did too. I chased after him to see where he was going. He was walking down the street we just came from.

"Help!" It was a meek cry in the distance. Zell must've seen something when we drove by.

"Hey Zell, let me get my gun!" I called to him but he ignored me. I quickly dashed by to the car and grabbed my revolver. I sprinted back to Zell as quickly as I could to make sure he wasn't getting into trouble.

I found the alley where all the commotion was coming from. There was a woman lying on the ground, clothes all ripped. There were at least ten guys standing around her, many with their pants lowered. I aimed my gun but after a second, I lowered it. Between the group and me stood Zell. Standing strong, opening and closing his firsts in anticipation. He wanted this. I wouldn't interfere.

"It's all yours Zell."

He cracked his neck. "You guys better but your cocks back in your pants. Don't wanna fight me with your pants down." He stepped forward slowly. A man with a knife charged Zell. He lunged out with the knife. Zell swung his left arm out and grabbed the man's wrist. With a professional twist, the knife was loosened. Zell's right hand grabbed the knife from the man's hand. Then Zell's left hand, released the man's wrist, and shockingly, entered into the man's mouth. He grabbed his tongue and using the newly acquired knife, sliced it off. He knocked the man to the ground and put a foot on him so he couldn't roll over. The man instantly gagged on the grotesque amount of blood pouring down this throat. Zell dropped the tongue on the man as he stopped moving.

Zell licked the blade of the knife and then spun it in his hand. "This is the unluckiest night of your lives."

I will never repeat the carnage I witnessed that night. More importantly, I began devising ways to get Kristi back...as soon as possible.

* * *

**Technically, this isn't summer yet, so I did better than I set out to do and two months isn't bad for me. So leave me a review and let me know if you liked Rinoa in this chapter. The first signs of her being rather sadistic. **


	22. Mainstream

Alright, with classes starting back up my life has become even more hectic. This chapter was originally going to be the girls taking out the mob, but what started as a little paragraph about Squall and Seifer eventually turned into the entire chapter being about them. Not that this chapter is all extra or filler, it's still important, but next chapter you'll all see Rinoa being a badass once again which i'm sure that's what everyone wants.

* * *

**March 30**

**Zell's POV. **

I was doing handstand push-ups when Irvine shot upward in bed. He looked deeply disturbed and the first thing he did was look to his side. It was obvious that's where Selphie was supposed to be. He looked around the room and began to realize where he was. He made eye contact with me and I let my feet down. I spun around and sat on the ground. I was slightly out of breath from the workout, but it was the only way I could sleep at night and apparently I wasn't the only one having trouble with it.

"Miss Selphie?" I asked fully knowing the answer.

He nodded slowly. I watched as he touched his damaged ear. He did it constantly, I know he hated the thought of Blaine getting one-up on him. He shook his head slightly to allow his longer hair to cover up his ear. It was obvious how self-conscious he was about it.

"Sucks being away from your girl huh?" I propped my knees up and leaned my elbows against them.

"Yeah," He rubbed his eyes which were still tired from his sleep. "Honestly, you never really got to spend that much time with Kristi. I mean…you did, but…well you know what I mean."

I nodded. "She didn't live in the house so it's not like you and Selphie."

"I'm not saying-"

"I know you aren't." I cut him off holding up my hand.

"Hey Zell," He leaned his back against the wall. "I know you've been kinda upset lately, and I get it completely. Just…if ya wanna talk or, I don't know…something."

It wasn't hard to sense my mood change, it was pretty obvious. I hated sounding depressing so I never wanted to complain, but nothing is right anymore. I just see everything…dark. It sounds so lame to say 'I don't see any happiness anymore' but…it's the truth. Even my thoughts, when I try and mediate, I can't clear my head. Meditation has always been my way to calm down and relax. But it's not working and it's really grinding me down mentally. Maybe a talk would be good.

"Not sure what to talk about," I shrugged. "I miss Kristi, that's it. Hopefully, when this is over, I can get her back. But…would you take Selphie back if she called you screaming and then didn't answer you for weeks?"

"Yes." He answered instantly. "Without a doubt."

I chuckled morbidly. "Well, hopefully Kristi will be like you."

"Yeah, well I'm missing Selphie pretty badly." Irvine admitted. He chuckled softly. "Honestly, I don't know how Squall does it. Everything we do, everything we see…he sleeps alone. Whenever my day is bad, I hold Selphie, and I know everything is okay. It sounds dumb I know."

I shook my head. "It doesn't sound dumb. Whenever I had a really bad night, Squall would always let me go to Kristi's apartment. He understood…we all understand. Even Kristi got use to me showing up at all hours. We guys like to pretend were tough but honestly, it's the person we love that holds us up. There's nothing better than after a horrible day, crawling into bed and holding the person you love. They're our pillar in this messed up world, ya know?"

Irvine smirked, "Man, losing Kristi makes you all philosophical and shit."

I laughed slightly, Irvine and I hadn't really talked like this yet. It was all business. It was mainly my fault, I had 'fuck off' stamped across my face. But it was good, this was good.

"You know Selphie is really important to me," Irvine told me, his eyes looking down at his hands like we wasn't sure where else to look. I can't blame him, guys having heart-to-hearts are rather different than girls. It's more awkward than anything.

"We all know man." I told him.

He cracked a sad smile and looked up at me. "So…like…you all _know_?"

I rocked back and forth on the ground a little, I always felt antsy and needed to move. "Yeah."

"Shit." He cursed through his teeth.

"Hey man, it's alright."

"Yeah, yeah." He brushed me off. "Selphie has a big mouth."

"Selphie had to tell Squall, and you know…things get out. We didn't want to sound like we were trying to dig up your past."

"It's fine," He was upset and I was definitely out of my zone here. I wasn't the person to cheer people up, not with something heavy like this. But I had to try.

"Irvine," I chewed on my words a moment trying to rethink them the best I could, but I've never been one to get the right words out. "What your Uncle did…it wasn't your fault."

He let out a quick snort. "Do you know how many times I've heard that? How many times I've been told I was a young kid, what was I supposed to do?"

"Well he's gone now." I hoped that would reassure him a little.

"That's 'cause I shot that fucking molester and burned the entire barn down on top of him." He looked at me angrily with heat in his eyes. "My father thought it was an accident, that his brother was trapped as it caught fire from a broken lantern. He never knew, and I never told him. When my father died, I had no reason to stay there anymore and I wanted nothing more than to get away. I heard of these killings in the City, so I sold the farm and moved here. I wanted to stop the sick people in the world and I thought moving away would help me forget. But it didn't, and even now I still see him in my dreams. The only time I don't is with Selphie. I love her and I _need _her."

"I know man, I know." I told him honestly. I didn't need to be a psychologist to put together Irvine's life. Molested as a boy, knowing it was wrong but not being able to stop it. So he flirts with as many women as he can, to feel _right. _He doesn't want to feel like a young boy, so he flirts with women. It's all he talks about, it's all he thinks about. Whenever Selphie isn't around him, his past comes back to haunt him. I couldn't imagine. I had my dark past, hell, everyone in our group had fucked up pasts. That's why we are such a tight group, at least for me, I have no one else, I need this group. They're my family, and I love them all.

"We're so fucked up," I joked.

He laughed along. "More than most. But it's why we do what we do." He continued, losing his laughter tone and taking on a stern unwavering one. "We have motivation to never give up. We have something pushing us, deep within ourselves. It's not for money, recognition, nor fun. We are trying to stop the world from creating people like us. We are little children that were twisted into horrible monsters, luckily, we happen to be on the right side."

I nodded but didn't say anything. What could I say?

* * *

**Squall's POV**

With one hard stomp, his leg snapped and he was crippled. He cried out in pain but it was muffled through the t-shirt I shoved into his mouth, I couldn't let the other people in the hotel hear someone screaming. His nostrils flared as he tried to breathe deeply but his nose was dripping too much blood for there to be any room for air. That meant he had to huff and puff through the t-shirt which is hard to do…and I'm sure the blood soaking into the t-shirt from his broken teeth wasn't helping either. His well manicured hand clawed at my arm trying to relieve any of the pressure and pain he was feeling. His emerald eyes couldn't leave mine, whether from fear or mercy, I wasn't sure but I didn't care. I grabbed his hand and with a twist his wrist snapped as well. He screamed again into the t-shirt as I flung his broken hand to the ground. Seifer and I circled around him like sharks as he cried and pissed himself on the floor. Each step in the carpet was damp from the amount of blood soaking into it from the man's body guards we already took out. Three of them in total…and they didn't go easy. To get into the hotel we couldn't have weapons so we did this one barehanded. This was one hell of a fight but as always, we came out on top. Seifer's lip was split and I was rocking a fairly big gash on my eyebrow.

"Well," Seifer stopped walking and nodded at the man lying on the ground. "One international arms dealer as ordered. Mikey right? Wait, that's not his name. What was it again?"

I stopped walking as well "Uh…I forgot."

"Shit," Seifer let out a sigh, "We're sure it's him right."

"Yeah, it's definitely him, I looked at the picture enough to see him in the dreams."

"But not his name?" Seifer deadpanned.

"I know it."

"Then what is it."

"You're making me forget by being so demanding!" I exclaimed.

"It begins with in an 'M' I know that. Marcus?"

"No it's more uncommon…right?"

"Yeah, something like," Seifer thought a moment. "Martez?

"Madison?"

"Macy?

"Malik?"

"Manco?"

"Mac?"

"Malove?"

"Malove could be right," I agreed. I looked down at the guy. "He could be a Malove."

Seifer clicked his tongue. "I think that's still wrong."

"Whatever, it doesn't matter." I knelt down. I grabbed the man's hair as I stared into his eyes. "Do you know how much you're worth? Every agency in the world wants you but they don't have proof, well lucky for us, we don't need proof. Not so lucky for you, many other black-market dealers want you. You've been monopolizing the business and people don't like that, especially your rivals." I let go of his head and stood back up. "It's nothing personal, well…I hate you're guts on a cellular level and your birth certificate is the abortion clinic apologizing for their failure…so this is personal, but there's some business as well. If I hand you over to one of your rivals, he's going to hand me a list, and this list is a big fat juicy list filled with names of people I want to have end up just like you. So Malove, I know what you're thinking, you're thinking – damn my day can't get any worse. Well, I hate to say it-"

"You love to say it," Seifer corrected.

I chuckled, "He's right, I do indeed. So, as I was saying, you're day can't get any worse, well it can actually, because I only have to bring your head back." His eyes widened as he realized what I was saying. "I usually don't like being too gory, but a head is a lot easier to carry than a body. It's for convenience sake I assure you." He began squirming on the ground which wasn't easy for him with a busted leg and only one workable hand.

"We should get moving before someone finds us," Seifer suggested.

"I couldn't agree more." We were in a fancy hotel in the central Deling, this dealer was attending a high-end party filled with many potential clients. We waited until he was going to be alone when we made our move. His room was smaller than I thought, only one queen sized bed and not even a common room. This place is always booked full and this must be the only thing he could've gotten his hands on. Still, a room's a room, and any noise we made wouldn't draw too much attention, not when an extravagant party was the main attraction. We could even hear the music from the ball room filter in softly through the walls if we were all quiet. That lowered the risk of this hit a little, but it was still extremely risky.

Normally I would never try this but I was pulling out all stops because of Blaine. I know I said to take out small street scum but reading in the paper how a rundown hotel mysteriously burned down and later five dead bodies were found jacked me up. I knew it was Rinoa instantly. She was getting right down to business. When Quistis made her first weekly report she confirmed my beliefs and then to add on how they were already onto McGreggor…I had to do something bigger. When Irvine told me about how Zell's body count was already over a hundred in just _one _week I knew I had to step up my game. The competitive aspect of this plan was already soaring from the very beginning. I knew it would happen, it's the gamification inside every person, the attribute where we want to compete. As messed-up as it is, it even exists when killing people.

"You ready?" I looked at Seifer. I wasn't kidding about the head thing, we were only taking his head. Of course we'd shoot him first, but I we agreed to pretend like we weren't. That way, up until the very moment before his death, he'd be terrified.

"Hold on, let me piss," Seifer headed towards the bathroom which was back near the entrance door.

"You fucking serious?" I stepped to the end of the bed to watch him go down the narrow part of the room.

He stopped in front of the bathroom and turned back to face me. "I said I had to before didn't I?"

"I told you not to drink all that beer and now you're going to break the seal."

"I'm not even drunk, fuck off."

The entrance door swung open catching us both off guard. It didn't open the entire way, just enough for a one cylinder projectile to enter, or better known as a stun grenade, or, a.k.a. flashbang. Thank God Seifer had ungodly reactions and mother fortune blessed us because that flashbang hit Seifer square in the chest. His hands automatically caught it and without thinking he threw it into the bathroom and slammed the door shut. I dove onto the bed, grabbed a pillow, and covered my head with it. I don't know what Seifer did but I hope he covered his ears at least. The bang was still loud and I couldn't imagine having one actually go off right near me. The bang was also the bell for the round to start, because the second I heard it, I jumped off the bed ready to fight. I saw Seifer standing at the corner ready for whomever to enter. By the time I was on my feet, the door banged into the wall and someone already entered the room. He stepped into the main part and his eyes instantly met mine.

He was dressed in all tight black clothes and through his shirt I could see he was wearing cavalier. He was six foot and the veins running through his arms told me he was well trained. He had a cord running to his ear which meant he had an ear piece. He held a handgun with a silencer on it. He braced it with two hands and even had a knife sticking downward in his right hand which was the main grip. When he saw me, he raised it without hesitation and aimed it right at my head. If he got the shot off I would've been dead, there was no doubt in my mind. I forget how many times I owe Seifer my life.

Seifer grabbed his gun and pushed it downward. The man instantly swung knife hand out at Seifer. The blonde blocked at the elbow with his right hand. He placed his left hand on the man's shoulder. He pushed on his shoulder and pulled on his hand while simultaneously pushing the back of his knee in. It worked perfectly and with one yank Seifer popped the man's shoulder out. He didn't stop there, with one back step and a powerful lift, he flipped the man over his head. He slammed him into the ground and I could tell he was knocked out.

There was no time to relax as a second man – dressed and armed exactly like the first – entered the room. He was at Seifer's back so I jumped onto him. I slammed him into the wall. I saw Seifer point the man's gun away from us as the man attempted to shoot a couple bullets, but they sailed harmlessly into the wall. Seifer yanked the weapons out of his hand and I released my grip, allowing Seifer to throw him into the lamp on the bed stand. It shattered and Seifer was instantly on him. But they were no amateurs. The man flipped onto the bed dodging Seifer's dive onto the ground. Seifer rose to take a foot in the face. He slammed into the wall and the man didn't stop. He grabbed Seifer's arm and twisted it behind his back. That would be a problem if Seifer and I didn't train for this exact hold. Seifer swung a hard elbow into the man's side. It was incredible as the man took it without faltering which only proved his training more. Seifer had to throw three more elbows before the man loosened his grip enough for Seifer to break free. In doing so Seifer reversed the hold and slammed the man into the wall. He never let go of the man's arm and Seifer raised his leg higher than I've ever seen. He was able to lift it above the man's outstretched hand and then he brought it down falling to the ground brining the man with him. Seifer rolled over him and pulled as he did. In expert fashion the man's arm popped out of his socket, but shocking the man didn't stop fighting. He slammed Seifer in the face with a hard elbow and then spun around on the ground before rising to his feet.

I couldn't watch anymore as I knew more would come in. I spun around just in time to see another man enter. He looked the same as the first two in every aspect, even down to the buzz cut. He raised his gun but I swung my hand out pushing it to the side. I was met with his knife hand punching me in the face. He swung the knife after the punch but I leaned back to dodge. I quickly realized he let me push the gun away to bait me into taking the distracting punch before a knife swing. He wasn't fighting punch for punch but planning his moves out. I heard a crash behind me and I wanted to look but I knew that would be the death of me. He baited me with aiming the gun again, I knew if I didn't take it he would shoot, but he was planning for after I pushed it away with my hands. To counter that, I grabbed both his hands on the gun and spun as I did it. I planted my foot ready to throw him into the wall but he swung his foot catching me in the back of the knee, which caused me to lose any of the strength I was gathering. I quickly stepped closer to him and swung my elbow at his face. He leaned back and dodged it a little too easily for my liking. I still had both my hands on his hands, which was the most important part. He couldn't use his knife or gun as I kept them pointed down. I moved the slide on the gun back rapidly to discharge three bullets from the chamber in a desperate attempt to take the firearm out of the equation.

That's all I was able to get before he head-butted me. I didn't expect it and it caused me to stumble backwards. He raised his gun and I feinted right before moving in on the left. I came up with my strong left punch. He raised his right hand to block it at my forearm, his left hand – gun hand – pointed at me. I kicked the side of his knee forcing him to drop the one knee to the ground. I grabbed the gun with my right hand and used my left hand to crack him hard in the face. That was answered with his own punch into my ear which was followed by another punch to my ear. He was picking his punches well which scared me even more. My ear rang loudly but I ignored it as I ripped the gun out of his hand. I aimed it at him but he swung the knife at my hand so I had to lower the gun to dodge the swing. As the gun was lowered he grabbed it with his free hand. His knife went for a kill swing at my neck but I was able to raise my left hand in time vertically in front of my neck. It took the cut from the knife which I'd gladly accept over one to my neck. I gave two straight jabs to his face before stepping into him and landing an elbow to his neck. I had to step out to the right to avoid the knife he tried to dig into my back when I stepped closer to him. I couldn't go far to the right since his free hand was still placed on the gun making sure I didn't aim it at him. In a risky move I released the gun which he wasted no time to grab since it never even hit the ground. By doing this, I was able to get behind him. I jabbed my left fist as hard as I could into his kidneys making him cringe. I kicked out his legs and went to grab for his neck, but it didn't work. When I kicked out his legs he leaned forward as if knowing my next move. I kicked his back to send his body forward and his head went into the wall. Before I could make my next move he twisted upside down on the floor so he could point the gun right at me.

"Stop!" He yelled and I listened because he had me, I had no move that wouldn't end with him putting a bullet in me. He breathed heavily but his hands didn't shake in the slightest as the gun was pointed at my heart. A headshot could be dodged too easily, this man was a pro as pros come.

"Bro?" I directed at Seifer but my eyes never left the man on the ground.

"He got me." Seifer answered.

I slowly turned my head to look over my shoulder. Seifer was low on the ground but he wasn't kneeling, he was squatting. The man stood behind him with a knife pressed at his throat. The man's other arm was dangling since it was still disconnected from before. I didn't want to think about how he fought Seifer with one hand and won. By the way he was leaning on Seifer I knew he had him in some hold. He had to otherwise Seifer would've broken it by now. Then I watched as the man twisted his disconnected shoulder in a very painful way but the shoulder popped back into place. He shook the feeling back into it and it was then as good as new.

"You got beat by a man with one hand?" My breath was raspy.

"Fuck you," Seifer was breathing harder than me. "At least I took one out, you couldn't even do that."

"Well we're fucked now," I agreed as I turned back to face the man who was still on the ground. He didn't move an inch, he didn't want to even create the possibility of an opening. His presence of mind was incredible.

"They're like fucking Seal Team Six or something." Seifer gasped loudly for air to regulate his breathing.

"They're special forces that's for sure." I replied. "No marks on any of their clothes to make sure they can't be identified but they are far too professional to be thugs."

"So what are they ex?"

"No, they're still in the game, that's for sure, too young to be out and their skills are too sharp."

"Sir?" It was the man behind Seifer, which meant their leader was the man pointing the gun at me. "What do we do?"

"I'm trying to figure that out," The leader replied. "These guys are too skilled to be body guards. This one has been reading everything about us, I'm surprised he hasn't nailed us completely yet."

"He will." Seifer laughed.

"Just did." I stated confidently as I finally placed who these guys were. "They're special forces alright. They're SAS."

"I didn't see them parachute in." Even with a knife to his throat Seifer's a sarcastic ass.

The man slowly, very, very, slowly got to his feet in front of me. I was looking for an opening the entire time but it didn't exist. Not even for one moment did I think I could grab the gun and even if I did, the man behind Seifer would kill him without hesitation. When he was on his feet he took a couple steps to my right to get further away from me. "How do you know we're SAS? There's a lot task forces."

"You're Special Forces that we all know, but there's a lot of Special Forces now-a-days as you say." I turned to make sure my front was still to him. He now stood so his eyes were on both Seifer and me, he was good. "You're holding a Sig Sauer P226 pistol, which narrows it down a lot, then adding on your insane knife skills narrows it down even more. You were prepared to use your knife more than your gun, that means you're specifically trained for close-quarters-combat. Again, many Special Forces are, so what really told me who you were, is that atrocious accent."

"Excuse me?"

"SAS has no authority in Galbadia and the mere fact you're here could be considered an international incident if you didn't go through the correct channels. That's why there's only three of you, though I'm sure a forth is on a computer somewhere in this hotel. You're trying to be quiet about this and I know that because you're using Galbadia accents. SAS is Estharian, you tried to blend in, but your accent sticks out to me easily."

"Likewise, you're Balamb born, that's as plain as day." He replied evenly.

That caught me by surprise, I thought my accent was good but he nailed me. "You're correct."

The man nodded at Seifer. "Are you Balambian too? That explains you're training if you Balambian Republic Army."

"No, he's Galbadian, and I'm not a B.R.A .member either, wanted to when I was younger though."

"Not a fan of Mother Esthar?" The man smirked.

Seifer let out a long whistle. "Oh man, he hates Esthar more than anything in the world."

"T'is true," I chuckled.

"So what's a Balamb boy covering up his accent doing with a tough as nails Galbadian street fighter over here."

"I rather like this guy," Seifer smiled.

"I bet I have more right than you do." I responded.

"There's three dead bodies on the ground and the forth is alive, beat up, but alive." The man looked me strongly in the eye. "Is that one alive, Marvin?"

"Oh shit Marvin!" Seifer cried out. "That's his fucking name."

I cracked a smile because it was hard not to even in situations like this, Seifer will always be Seifer. "Yeah, that's Marvin, you're here for him. That's obvious. An international arms dealer, he's wanted everywhere. Since this mission you're on is as black as black-ops get, I'm sure he's going to disappear and never be heard from again."

"That's the plan." The man answered.

"Well I need him." I argued.

"Well his head to be exact."

"Shut up, Seifer."

"Sorry, sorry, just telling the truth." He mumbled.

"Why do you need him?" The man asked.

I tilted my head slightly. "I think you're beginning to realize we're on the same side."

"I gathered that by now. I want to know why we are."

"We're the Saints," I told him, no need to hide it. He can't exactly ever admit to being in this room so he can't tell anyone.

He cracked a smile, "I thought so."

"Oh yeah?" That surprised me.

"We were actually briefed on you guys." He seemed to relax a little but he didn't lower his gun and his comrade still had a knife to Seifer's throat. "We were told to leave you alone if we happened to cross your path. As I was fighting you I wondered in the back of my mind if you were the Saints. You're as skilled as the rumors say, though I thought there were more of you."

"There around."

"And older."

"We're old enough."

The man smirked. "On the other hand, we were also briefed on Blaine, and we were told if we see him to take him out."

"Haven't already taken care of him for us have you?" I joked.

"I wish, but sadly, no we haven't."

"As great as that is, we're still in a situation here." I brought everyone's attention back to the problem at hand.

The man shook his head, "No we aren't. Marvin's ours, that isn't up for debate."

I growled but Seifer spoke before I could. "I say we take it, they have us beat, and we are in no position to negotiate. We can walk out and still know that this arms dealer is going to get way worse done to him than what we could ever do."

I didn't say anything for a long while as we all just stared at each other. Finally, I let out a big sigh and put my hands down. The motion didn't go unnoticed as the SAS agent's trigger finger flinched, which made me more nervous than I cared to admit, but besides that nothing else happened. "Alright, we're gone."

And just like that we were. The other man let Seifer get up and they stepped to the side to allow us to leave. They never lowered their weapons or guard which only proved their experience. Once we were out of the room we rode an elevator with a bunch of rich people that could only be described as comical since it was obvious we were just in a fight. They stared at us as if we were about to attack them. It didn't help that Seifer started growling like a dog about to bark…and then he did indeed bark when the doors opened scattering the people out of our way. Walking through the hotel with everyone staring at us like we were two aliens that just landed on this planet and were trying to act natural while obviously sticking out wasn't any better. All bloodied up and dirtied walking through an extremely ornate and lavish hotel with a plethora of too-rich-for-your-own-good people wearing disgustingly expensive outfits. We couldn't wait to get out of there and hurried to the car we parked in a garage a few blocks down. People avoided us on the sidewalk because again…we looked like shit. We never spoke a single word until we sat in the car and pulled out of the garage.

"Fuck I'm pissed." Seifer's first elegant words.

"That really put's it into perspective, the fact that as good as we are, once someone with real skill steps in, we are completely out matched."

"Like Blaine?"

"Exactly." I sighed and looked out the window since Seifer was driving. "You know those people back there are some of the best in the world, I'm sure. SAS and block ops missions, that's top of the line. I also know that there are people trained to fight alone, not in squads, and they are kept separate for one reason. Some missions are too secretive for a group, so a person has to go it alone. That's a million times more dangerous, and that's who Blaine was we think. It's basically their go to guy if shit goes wrong or something really needs to get done. Blaine said he was better than the best, which we know by now that he wasn't exaggerating at all. So, that must mean he was that specially trained single agent, but we knew that. It just sucks because the gap between us is so large, fighting him heads up is just not right."

"That's why we're doing this." Seifer answered.

"Yeah, we need him to slip up."

"But fuck I'm pissed." Seifer looked at me. "Aren't you pissed, we haven't gotten our asses kicked like that in a while."

"I'm pissed don't worry. I wanna kill someone."

"Same here."

"I try to resist that urge though since-"

"You don't wanna be a murderer," Seifer smirked at me. "It's too late Squall, we enjoy what we do, don't deny it or it'll mess with your head."

"Don't act like you can think coherently."

"Fuck you." Seifer nudged me. "Let's go fuck someone up."

"You sound like you just lost a bar fight and wanna keep fighting."

"Don't you?"

I smirked, "I do indeed. But it's not just that, it's how fucking Zell is going ape-shit on everyone building his body count, and how the girls are about to take out the entire mafia tomorrow. And what are we doing? Getting fucked up by a bunch of military brats."

"Yeah!" Seifer roared. "So let's fuck someone up that's weaker than us, like real man."

I laughed loudly hearing that. "Alright, I'm with you. Let's do something."

"Alright, I know this one guy who beats his wife, I've been waiting for a reason to take him out."

"No, not him." I replied.

"Why not." Seifer looked at me curiously.

I met him with a hard stare. "Blaine is going to broadcast again tonight so I want to make a fucking statement tonight. That's what that arms dealer was supposed to do, help us take out a lot of people, but since that isn't happening, I wanna make a statement."

"Sounds like you got an idea already."

"Remember back when we were on the force and there was that one bar we hung out at. That cop bar?"

"Green Jack?" Seifer answered.

"That's the one. And remember that one back room."

"Oh you aren't thinking-"

"I am." I told him strongly.

"That was fucking Juelz's people. They're a cartel, and they are the violent cartel."

"They're all violent," I replied.

"No, these guys are the ugliest mob. They don't care how many go to jail since they run the jails, they will shoot people in the street without care. No one messes with them."

"Exactly!" I exclaimed. "They sit in that fucking cop bar buying cops drinks with that stupid smug look on their faces because they know cops can't do shit against them. But we can! We can march in there and fuck their day up."

"They'll find us."

"No one can find us, but it doesn't matter."

"Then they'll find someone else!" Seifer argued, "We can't take them on because it will get so many other people killed, it's why we haven't."

"I just said it doesn't matter."

Seifer gave me a hard look. "I see…this is war right, so sacrifice a few to make a bigger statement." He gripped the steering wheel tighter, "Alright…you know I'll follow you."

"Seifer you're so sweet, my hearts melting."

"Fuck you."

I chuckled, "I said it didn't matter because the girls are taking all the mobs out tomorrow, remember?" His eyes lit up and I knew he understood. "That's right, they won't retaliate because the head of the snake will be cut off."

He gave me a wide grin. "We could kill as many of the lackies as we want. The girls will kill Juelz tomorrow, and there goes the cartel. They'll be so disorganized that the police will scoop them all up without worry. Holy fuck, I knew taking out all the mobs was big but I just realized the chain connection it will make."

"So, you up for a drink at Jack's." I laughed because it was what we would always say to one another when we were on the force.

With a smirk like the devil himself, Seifer sped up in the direction of our old hangout. We didn't talk on the way over, we didn't need to constantly speak to one another. The night was dark and dingy like the city always was. It was nostalgic driving through the old places we use to hang out and see every day. I pushed the past to the back of my mind since it didn't matter. We pulled in front of the bar, it was a spot that was designated to remain open for taxis but it wouldn't matter for us tonight. It was a small bar but that's why cops liked it, it was known for cops to hangout there so everyone left it alone. Except Juelz guys because they were sent here to piss the cops off, which always pissed me off in turn but I couldn't do anything about it, until tonight that is.

"Hey, I just realized a couple things." Seifer announced.

"Yeah?"

"Well for one, this place is filled with cops, which should be obvious why that's a problem. Two, we don't have our cloaks and only two handguns. Three, there is a chance people will recognize us in this bar. This is a bad idea."

I smirked, "You're such a pussy."

"Oh real mature."

I scratched my eyebrow. "Okay, to answer your three questions. One, they won't bother us because they'll love the fact some people are taking care of those assholes in the back and we'll move so quick they won't have time to do anything. Two, our cloaks would make it worse since all the police want to nab us to get a promotion. Two and a half since you looped in the handgun problem into question two, we only need one gun each, it'll be fine. Finally three, I want people to recognize us." I flashed him a rare grin. "We're going mainstream tonight."

"What?"

I stepped out of the car and didn't answer him. He followed me and handed me one of the handguns. We stuck them in the back of our pants. Remember, we were dressed nicely for the hotel party but all our clothes were ripped and we were bloodied up from the fighting. We were about to attract a lot of attention walking into this place.

"Just follow my lead, everything will be fine, and only use your gun if you need to. Everything before guns could be labeled as a bar fight."

"God willing."

"God willing," I echoed back to him.

Without wasting any more time we entered the familiar bar. The bar looked exactly the same. The bar ran the entire distance on the left side and the booths were across from the bar. It was skinny and narrow which didn't leave much walking space. The back room was at the far end, and I could already see the fucking assholes sitting back there. The bar was like a mixture between a die bar and a sports bar. There would be random sports pictures on the wall as well as newspaper clippings of some police officers, often times they'd sign the paper as a joke. It brought back a lot of memories. The bar wasn't packed but it was full enough. Some cops were still in uniform just enjoying a beer after work, while others were out of the uniform. There were the usual women that hung around this place looking to pick up a hot police officer since that's how they got wet. I won't lie, Seifer and I banged quite a few back in our day. Flash a badge and you get laid, so easy.

Seifer and I instantly attracted a lot of attention. We didn't stop walking and right away someone stood up.

"Squall? Seifer?" He peered closer. "That is you!"

I laughed loudly. "Zack, haven't seen you in forever." I shook his hand. Seifer greeted him as well.

"Holy shit, what happened to you two?" He noticed our appearance. "Do you need me to arrest someone?" He didn't sound like he was joking and I could see why. We haven't been here in forever and when we walk in it looked like we were just mugged. It could seem like we were here to make a complaint or press charges.

"No, man, we're good," Seifer answered.

"So what are you doing here?" He looked between the two of us.

"Those still Juelz guys back there?" I nodded at the backroom.

"Yeah," He growled, "those fucking picks come in here every night. They fuck with us too, because they know we can't mess with them. About a month ago some rookie couldn't take it anymore and said something. He disappeared a few days later and was never heard from again. It was real sad, I wish more than anything we could do something about those fuckers. But they're so high up on the chain we can't touch them."

Seifer and I shared a look, we knew criminals now and they were far from the top. They were the lowest of the low. They were told to hang out and piss cops off. Only people the cartel doesn't care about will get that job. They aren't protected at all, if they die, the cartel could care less, but they will use it as an excuse to hurt some cops. In fact, the cartel was using these underlings as bait to draw the cops' aggression out to do just that – teach a lesson. So Zack couldn't be more wrong, they weren't power players or skilled mobsters, they were just deadbeat tough guy wannabies.

"Hey let me introduce you to my partner." Zack motioned to another man who stood up. He took my hand in a firm shake. "This is Pat, he's got some Balambian in him. You should like him."

"Very funny." I replied but my eyes were back to the back room.

Seifer took his hand. "Pat, how old are you?"

"Twenty-three."

"Shit he's older than us." Seifer joked towards me.

"I know," I looked at him. "We feel so old."

"Why's that?" Zack asked. "Actually…where have you guys been?"

I looked at him and gave him a curious sly smile, one that he could probably never decipher. "Zack, do you trust me?"

"That's quite the question." He laughed but when he saw I was serious his face grew grim. "Why?"

"Some serious changes are about to happen around here. You don't have to trust me ,you don't have to like me, and you don't have to agree with me. But it would make everything easier, so…do you trust me?"

"The years in the academy and the year we worked on the force together were some of my favorite times. So I can say without a doubt I trust you."

I looked at Seifer and then back to Zack. "Whatever happens in the next few days, just try and stay above it all."

"I don't know what that means." He chuckled confused.

I patted him on the shoulder. "Just ride the wave."

"What's going on?" He was looking worried.

I looked at Seifer and nodded "Let's go."

We headed for the back room and it didn't take long for everyone to notice where we were walking. One cop even stood up and grabbed Seifer's arm but the blonde shoved him back into his seat. We marched with authority and people didn't know what to do about it. The thugs in the back room noticed us and stopped laughing to watch us. There were only five of them, Seifer and I took our far more than five before. They were smoking so much the room was filling up with the vile smoke. It was illegal to smoke inside but that's all part of their job. To do small illegal things in front of cops just to piss them off. They weren't just cigarettes either, based off the smells drifting around the room.

"The fuck you hombres want?" One sneered as he put his cigarette down on an ash tray right in front of him. At least they were using them and not just the table. A nice old fashion heavy glass one, I wonder if he brought it himself. Didn't really matter.

Without hesitation I picked up the ashtray and slammed it into his teeth. I felt all of his front teeth break into his mouth. I grabbed his hair and pulled him forward onto the ground. He put his hands down to catch himself. This left the back of his head facing towards me and I didn't wait to slam the hard glass into the back of his skull. He fell to the ground with a concussion – at best. I saw Seifer grab the man next to me and slam his head into the table repeatedly. Each time there was a loud bang and the table bounced off the ground briefly. The man fell to the floor bleeding severely from his head. The other three were so shocked and confused they didn't even move yet. They were never messed with before, not like this. One jumped to his feet and pulled out a small knife. It was pathetic how he thought this would have an effect against us. He made a jab at me. I grabbed his wrist with my left hand, and with my right I grabbed his shirt. I pulled him towards me while lifting his knife hand up, and then I pulled him all the way passed me before lowering his knife arm back down, now with his arm twisted and behind him with his elbow up. I kicked out his knee and now I was holding him up by a twisted arm, which had no support and broke under his own weight. He screamed in pain as I took the knife and quickly jabbed it between his neck and shoulder, right in-between his collarbone. Now there were two left.

"Do you know who we are!" One shouted. "Do you know who we work for!"

Seifer and I didn't answer him. He stood there, unmoving and strong. Both our faces were stoic to the point where it must've been terrifying. This man had no idea who we were and why we were doing this. He just witnessed us take out three of his friends in less than five seconds and now we were looking at him. He knew – he fucking knew – he was next. He was now trying his best defense, hiding behind the name of the cartel he was with. It wouldn't work, Seifer and I were fearless to the name of some cartel.

"We work for Juelz hombre!" He screamed. "Do you know who that is?" We still didn't say anything, in our experience sometimes not talking was far more terrifying than anything else. What's worse than two people standing, staring, and not saying anything but everyone knows they're going to kill. "You'll be dead by tomorrow. You hear me, but if you let me go, I'll let you walk away now. Or am I gonna have to shoot you sons of bitches!" He screamed.

That was a bluff, he couldn't have a gun in the bar because that would give the cops something to arrest him for. Something he couldn't fight, they had to piss off cops without breaking any serious law in public. Smoking was one thing but carrying a firearm was another. I nodded my head very slightly but that was the message for Seifer to act. He moved so slowly it terrified the man who didn't know what else to do but beg for his life. The other man was still sitting in his chair…crying. The man standing held up both his hands begging for his life. Seifer grabbed an ashtray and the man starting crying as well. I wasn't even sure what Seifer was about to do but I knew it would be bad. The man was pleading with Seifer for his life but Seifer wouldn't give him a chance. He jammed the ashtray into the person's mouth. It didn't fit of course but it got the man to open his mouth around the thick glass. Seifer shoved him until he hit the back wall. I was sure his mouth tasted full of cigarette ash getting all over his tongue and throat. Seifer then formed a fist with his free hand and slammed it into the underside of the man's jaw one of the most powerful uppercuts I've ever seen. The man instantly fell to the ground his teeth probably inside his head now, most likely his sinus broken and possible throat injury. Seifer, for good measure, slammed his foot on top of the man's head on the ground, with his mouth still in the ashtray. That would help smash his brain as well as break his spine. It was a very gruesome way to go.

"The fuck was that?" I asked.

"It was my version of a curb stomp."

"I don't wanna know where you learned that," I grimaced.

"No you don't."

Anyways, that left one man left who – by the smell of it – shit his pants.

"Grab him." I said.

Seifer didn't even bother to ask me but grabbed the man and forced him out of the seat.

"You don't want me man, you don't need me." The guy begged.

"Break his knee." I ordered.

Before the man could beg anymore Seifer pulled him back so his leg stretched out briefly, and Seifer slammed his foot on top of his knee cap. It didn't break the first stomp so Seifer had to do it again. The man screamed in pain but now Seifer dragged him as the man tried to hop on one leg to keep up. I turned and headed towards the exit with Seifer in tow.

"The fuck Squall." Zack gaped at me. "You just killed this entire bar, all of us!" He shouted.

I slapped him friendly on the cheek. "Ride the wave, just ride the wave."

With that, we all exited the bar. Seifer threw the man in the back seat of our car and climbed in after him to watch him. I got behind the wheel and drove to where the next part of my plan would take place.

* * *

**Rinoa's POV**

The three of us sat on our bed in our somewhat nicer hotel than last one. Since we were planning a big hit we didn't need to do little runs since this was taking a lot of planning. But that was on pause for now. We were waiting for Blaine's broadcast. They were always horrible and he always found a new way to torture people. Not just the physical people on the TV, that wouldn't matter. The news station would cut away and people would get over it. No, Blaine enjoyed breaking down a human on every cellular level of moral and ethical emotions. He liked to dig inside a person's head, and he did it so well it was disturbing. The world watched these broadcasts and I knew everyone was deeply troubled by what they witnessed. I remember Squall messing with my mind when I first joined the Saints. It was the same deal with Blaine. He has the same ability as Squall to use very simple ideas to break down the very nature of man until they're lying on the ground begging for salvation.

Brenda Bree the wonderful news anchor we've all come to love appeared looking her usual level of perfected glamour. "Good Evening, I'm Brenda Bree. Let's not waste time, the monster Blaine has another message to share. Again, I warn you this will be quite disturbing, we only show it you because we want you to know what kind of man he is. We will stop the broadcast the second it gets out of control like usual, but please, keep this in mind as you're watching."

The screen cut to a room. It was dirtied, dark, and empty like usual. It prevents us, or anyone, from discovering the location of Blaine. Blaine normally had some set-up and this time was no different. He stood between three wooden stools, all in a line. On each stool, was a small wooden box. The boxes were different colors and all numbered one through three. So he wasn't trying to make them look the same, that wasn't the point of this. In front of the line of stools but slightly to the side were two people kneeling on the floor. Their hands were bound in the front and their heads were covered in hoods. They were two men based off the build, average looking in every way. They looked like they were just plucked off the street which gave me a sickening taste in my mouth. No one could help them, whatever was in store was going to be as horrible to watch as always.

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen." Blaine smiled wickedly. "Normally, I start with some big philosophical or ethical principles to kick off the little demonstration. Well, it'll be brief tonight because it won't take much to spread this message. I'm here to convince you that people are selfish. That's it, simple no? We like to believe we aren't, we donate money, maybe donate food, throw a bum a dollar. We'll go to church or spend time doing community service or volunteering. That's all stuff that isn't hard to do, the second it's a little more difficult we tend to back away. I know what some of you are thinking, 'I worked in poor areas every day' or 'I give millions to charity'. Well it doesn't matter, because that is all superficial. How many people will freely sacrifice their life for another person? Sure, if it's your family or friend or lover, it's much, much easier. What about a random stranger? You don't know him or her, you couldn't care less. But if their life is in your hand…should you care? You're life is of equal worth as the person who needs help, isn't it? Why should you risk your life, because someone else did something wrong? Ever see those commercials on TV about donating just a single gil to starving children. How many change the channel? What's wrong with us? That's a person, they need help, it costs a gil to buy a soda. Can't you go without soda for a day and save a life instead?"

He paused and stepped forward around the stools. "Think about it, it's so easy, it's so simple, but we don't ever help. I know what you're thinking. 'It's so far away, it's another country, it's another city' or 'how will I know my money will actually be put to good use'. Well, even if you lose some small gil, I think you'll live. And there are many charities out there that guarantee and prove that one hundred percent of your donation will go where it's supposed to. Pick up a phone, dial a number, say you're giving this amount of money, give them you're credit card, and you're done. You just saved a life…why doesn't every person do that? We waste so much money on incredibly materialistic items that don't really mean anything or have any actual worth. Think about it this way. If you were walking by a small pond that was only two feet deep, and you saw a baby fall into the pond. Surely you'd step into the water and help the baby, it's simple, it's easy, it's just _right._ And, of course, you wouldn't take off your shoes first would you? You wouldn't waste time doing that, you'd just go right in even if it ruins the shoes. What's a pair of shoes compared to a baby's life. Well, why not call in a donation for a starving child? What's some money and time compared to a person's life? If someone was drowning, would you save them? Or would you be able to walk away and say, it's not my fault they're in trouble. Outta sight, outta mind, am I right? People are, self-centered, egotistical, proud, and overall…selfish. So let's test this theory."

Blaine walked over to the man on the left of the screen and pulled off his hood and gag, "What's your name?

"Brad." The man answered with a hoarse and shaky voice.

"Have you seen my broadcasts before?"

"Please, let me go." The man begged.

"I will, if you answer my questions. Have you seen my little demonstrations before?"

"Y-yes." The man answered.

"Wonderful, then you know if you do as I say, and win, you'll be allowed to leave."

The man nodded. It was true, Blaine always let the person go if they could complete the task, or survived the horrid ritual Blaine made them perform. It was always disturbing in some way.

"W-what do I have to do?" The man asked.

"Excellent!" Blaine cheered. "He's got some spunk. It's very simple Brad, stand up." Brad didn't move so Blaine grabbed his shoulder and pulled upwards. "Come on, up, up up!" Once Brad was finally up, Blaine continued. "Now, there are three boxes. In two of those boxes are keys to your handcuffs. If you guess the right box, you will be allowed to leave. Now, of course if you don't guess and refuse to play, I will put so much pain on you, I'll have to gag your mouth to prevent you from biting your own tongue off to die and end it. So I highly suggest you play. Oh, and if you guess the wrong box, you still get tortured, so choose wisely."

"Oh God." The man started crying and covered his mouth with this handcuffed hands.

"So…Choose!" Blaine gestured widely to the three boxes.

The man stood still. "Just pick."

"That's a good boy." Blaine grinned widely watching the man.

It was like Trabia roulette. He was playing a guessing game, plain and simple. If he chose wrong, he would experience an excruciating death. If he picked right…he was free, plain and simple. Blaine would keep up his deal, that's part of it. That's why it's messes with people's minds so deeply. This man, is about to make the most important decision in his entire life, and he has nothing to base a decision on besides pure luck. At least the odds were for him. Two out of three, wasn't bad. Still, he knows this, everyone knows this. Saying you have the odds doesn't mean much when your life hangs in the balance. He could still pick wrong, it was still possible.

The man just stood there, staring at the three boxes as the world watched. If it was me, I would've stepped right up and picked one. The waiting is what makes it horrible, if he just chose, this would've been over. He would've known, either way, but the waiting is horrifying. Blaine knows this, he wants the world to wait along with this indecisive man as he picks either life or death.

The man's nerves were growing as he was visibly starting to shake until he finally shouted out. "Number one! I pick one!"

Blaine quickly moved to the first box, opened it, and withdrew a key. He smiled brightly at the man. "Congratulations, you're free!"

"Really?" Gasped the man.

"Really, honestly, you can walk right out that door. I won't stop you."

I felt my body un-tense and relief washed through me hearing he was going to be fine. I knew I wasn't alone, the world must've also felt wonderfully happy to know a man survived Blaine's cruel fate. The man quickly moved to take the key from Blaine to get the fuck out of that room. But when he reached for the key, Blaine pulled it away. My hopes sank as a foul darkness grew in my pit.

Now what did Blaine have planned?

"You said I could go," Brad looked like he was about to cry in fear and worry.

"Of you can, I'm not lying, you can leave, but let me propose one thing first."

I think the world was thinking the exact same thing I was. Oh no.

"Now, you obviously aren't alone, there is another man in this room." Blaine gestured to the second man whose head was covered. "You don't know who it is, you don't know his name, you don't know anything about the second man. Is he a murderer, is he a priest, is he a millionaire, is he a actor, is he a homeless man, is he sick and going to die soon, is he a scientist about to make a miracle cure. He could be anything, but the point is, you don't know him."

"Does he choose too?" The man asked Blaine worriedly. "He's odds aren't as good."

"That is very true. You went first, had good odds, and now can go walk free. However, this man is fifty/fifty. It's not bad, but it certainly isn't nearly as welcoming as what you had."

"I'm sorry," Brad apologized to the hooded man he doesn't know. We all knew why, because Brad went first, he significantly lowered the odds for the second man.

"Don't worry, you can save him." Blaine announced.

"I can?" Brad looked hopeful. I wanted to shout through the TV to lower the hopes, that it's a trap. Blaine would never allow that, he's tricking Brad right where he wants him.

"Of course, see, that man, isn't going to choose a box." Blaine wrapped an arm around Brad like they were old buddies. "Here's how this will play out. You can do one of two things. You can walk out that door, completely free, as promised. Or, you can choose for the second man. I promise there is another key in remaining boxes. If you guess correctly, the second man goes home as well. If you guess wrong, then you forfeit your key and you both stay here to succumb to my very painful hobby."

"W-what?" Brad choked out. "Y-you can't possibly-"

"Oh I do." Blaine smiled his infamous twisted grin that could freeze hearts from miles away. "Don't be selfish Brad, come on, save a life. This man, hey, maybe he has a family. Maybe he has kids waiting for him at home. Maybe a loving wife? You don't know, hell, I don't know. For all we know, he's a rapist. But that's the point isn't it, Brad. Will you risk your life, to save a man you don't know? Or will you walk out of here a free man. After all, you didn't put this second man here, I did. You escaped fairly, you aren't to blame for this second man. Why should you be responsible?"

"What will you do to him if I leave?" Brad asked worriedly.

Blaine's devilish smirk smeared across his face. "The most torturous painful techniques you could ever imagine. I'll keep him alive for weeks, as I pick him apart, very, very slowly."

"Oh God." Brad was crying again.

The second man, hearing Blaine, moaned loudly as he tried to get away. He got to his feet, bag over his head and made a run for it. It was pointless, Blaine was on him instantly. He shoved the handcuff key into Brad's hands and then chased down the second man. He threw him to the ground and slammed a foot on top of him to hold him steady. The man struggled and screamed through his gag. The words 'please' and 'help me' could be heard if one listened hard enough.

"Choose Brad!" Blaine exclaimed. "Do you leave, to save yourself and let this poor man die? Or do you risk your own life, to save a man you don't know! You have ten seconds!"

Well, Brad didn't need ten seconds. "I'm sorry!" He cried out. "I'm so sorry, I have family, I need to go home, I'm sorry! Please forgive me!" And with that, Brad ran out the door, leaving the second man all alone for Blaine.

The second man cried out louder, trying hard to protest his inevitable death. Blaine looked towards the camera with a creepy smile of pure satisfaction. "Why did Brad make excuses? Think about that until next time. And remember, this world is a full of people who only care for themselves, why should you stick your neck out for someone that might not do the same to you?"

With that broadcast cut off and returned to Brenda Bree who looked extremely disturbed by the imaged. "That was as disturbing as always and I urge you not to fall off the path as Blaine is suggesting. Stay strong, stay-" She stopped talking, which was a shock since news anchors were never supposed to stop talking. Even when being fed new information into their earpiece, they could keep talking. However, Brenda stopped, which meant something incredibly important was just said. "Pardon me, I apologize for that, but I have just been informed that the Saints, have officially requested we air their own broadcast."

"What!" Selphie exclaimed.

"Did you know about this?" I asked Qusitis.

"Not at all." She replied as shocked as everyone.

Brenda continued, "This is quite incredible. As we all know, the assailant known as Blaine has broadcasted once a week, often times with gruesome disturbing images that we only show so you understand the dire situation that is happening in this very city. His messages always have a direct theme that makes us question our moral principles and tries to shake our very core until we weep with a broken soul. The previous broadcast only proves my statement. At the same time, his enemy is clear, the Saints. This has caused many people to question the Saints whereabouts. Where are they? Are they doing anything about this? If they didn't exist would Blaine never have appeared? Are the Saints to really blame for all of this? They have never had an opponent challenge them and this could offset the way they work, thus dismantling the system that had been working unchallenging so far. So the big question still remains; where are the Saints and what are they doing?"

Brenda Bree took a moment to catch her breath. "I am happy to report that for the first time, the Saints wish to make a public statement. They have contacted this news station directly and are currently hooked up to a live feed. We will soon switch over to them, one condition they had was to not be interrupted. I will respect their wishes on the fear that such a rare opportunity will be missed if otherwise pursued. Let's see what they have to say."

The screen switched over to the live feed. It was a shitty room as expected, it looked like some empty studio apartment somewhere. On a long bench sat Squall and Seifer, I knew it was them. Both in their cloaks, they sat hunched over with their arms resting on their knees and with a handgun draped lazily in their hands. The hoods on their cloaks made it impossible to see any face, it was a shadow underneath as if Death itself was wearing the cloaks. In front of the two of them, sitting cross-legged on the ground, with a bag over their head, was a person. The shivering of his body proved he was alive but he made no sound so I knew he was gagged underneath. It was a picture out of a horror story, two hooded figures behind a man who was obviously about to be executed. Except in this horror story, we were the slayers, yet the heroes at the same time, signifying the conundrum of our very existence.

It was silent for at least an entire minute, but I knew all over the world, no one moved or made a sound as they stared at the TV like I was, waiting for a person to speak. Finally – as I expected – it was Squall who spoke. He didn't have a voice-modulator but I could tell he was speaking slightly deeper than normal, but nothing too extreme.

"You think you know who we are," Squall started. His lower inflection and extremely calm flow of words gave an eerie vibe that fit the magical beings that we – the Saints – have been classified as. "You have formed opinions and ideas generalizing the formation of a group such as ours. You have tied religious notions to us and political underlying messages. You have slurred our names and praised our titles. You have chastised us and craved us. You cannot make your mind up on what we are and it's time we let you know. We have never once, known ever will, make any claims to religious epiphanies. We did not give ourselves the name Saints, that was you're title to bestow upon us. You need to remember this for it is important…we are not good people. You think of us as defenders, that is not true."

Squall paused a moment to let that sink in. "Blaine uses examples, so shall we. When a little kid gets picked on by a big kid at school, his parents tell him to stand up for himself. That gets the kid's ass kicked. So what does he do? He finds a bigger kid and persuades this bigger kid to help him fight off the bullies. You assume we are that 'bigger' kid. The wicked in this world pick on the weak and they cannot defend themselves because they are weak. In response, we swoop down from our heavenly host – as you imply – and save the weak. This is a faulty notion that was created by the masses. We are not here to protect you."

Squall hesitated again to allow what he was saying to sink in. "Let me rephrase slightly. What we do is kill, but because of whom we kill, it sends a confusing message that is easily mistaken as protecting. Declaring that preceding statement should not cause you to worry, if you are in trouble, we kill the person that is troubling you. For that reason, a mistaken coincidence occurs where people believe we are 'saving' them. We let you believe what you wanted to believe, we never stopped you or prevented you from creating these sacred notions and uplifting ideals of us. That's because we have stayed in the shadows to deal with the shadows. We ignored you completely unless you earned our attention and it is very bad idea to earn our attention. But you have never left us alone, claim we are here for you, and begged for our help. So I am finally giving a dialogue to help clear the murky waters the media has stirred.

"We do not care about you." Squall spoke slowly and annunciated clearly. "If we care about you, then you will be dead soon. For this reason, Blaine targeting random civilians does not cause us to act. We will kill Blaine, but only on the very simplistic idea that he deserves death. This is why it is laughable that people hide in their homes begging for salvation. You beg and plead and cry for deliverance, for us to save you, well here's our answer: _no_." Squall gave the smallest chuckle to help add to the sadistic rant he was giving. "Stand up for yourself. It took seven people to change a city and it only took one man to flip it upside down. There are eight million people in this city, imagine what that many can do. Stop crying on the floor and do something. Complaining has never reached a successful end, so it begs to question, why are people still complaining? You also know by now, we do not discriminate. You can donate millions to charity, if I catch you doing anything I don't like, I will kill you. No one is safe from us, no one.

"This may make you hate us, it may make you think we are not heroes, and that is true. We have never once pledged our patriotism for country or zealous love for God. We never once believed we were given assignments from some heavenly host to purge the lands of the sinful. We are not insane so do not mistake us for insanity filled activists. We are people and in turn can be labeled as vigilantes. That is because the world is corrupt, but we are not. We kill those that deserve it, those that should not be alive because they can only bring about more suffering. The definition of murder is the unlawful killing of one human by another. Unlawful is the key word in that definition, because lethal injection is legal and therefore deemed acceptable. Of course there is still much controversy but if the government, which is corrupt, is allowed to take a bad person's life, why can't we? We do not murder innocent people, we kill wicked people, and for that reason we are not murderers."

Squall shifted slightly but only just to give his dialogue another break for what he was saying to sink in. "This has been a rather heavy talk to far, how about a joke? A priest, a saint, an angel, and the devil were standing at a bus stop. Suddenly, a thief runs up to them with a gun and a bag in one hand. He sticks it into the priest's gut and says, 'Give me your valuables.' The priest replies very upset, 'I am a priest, I have helped hundreds of charities and those in need.' But he took off his watch and put it in the bag. The thief moves to the saint and says 'give me your valuables'. The saint replies 'I am a saint, I have performed three miracles, this is absurd." But the saint took out what little money he had and put it in the bag. The thief moved to the angel and said the same thing to which the angel replied very heated. 'I am a majestic being, one of God's servants, how dare you steal from me. I have done countless good deeds in this world.' Yet, she took off her gold jewelry and dropped it into the bag. The thief moved to the devil and said 'give me your valuables.' The devil looked at the thief in a very bored manner before replying. 'I have many names, none that matter. I have committed countless acts which I need not brag about for you to know them. You want to rob me?' The devil held out his arms, "I dare you, try and fuck with me'." It was a live interrupted broadcast, the cursing was going to happen, the news network would apologize after.

Squall and Seifer slowly lifted up their hands to their hoods. My heart was racing, were they really about to drop their hoods? In one simultaneous swoop they pulled down their hoods. Their faces were not revealed since they wore masks underneath the hoods. The masks were plastic old school hockey style, but on them were painted in a deep red a twisted grin with graffiti like splattered spray above. They were terrifying to look at and it showed us in a whole new light.

"You have given us Saint like attributes so we shall embrace what people have labeled us as." Then Squall and Seifer chanted together. "We are not corrupt, we are not murderers, we are not insane…we are simply doing God's Dirty Work." They held up their handguns at the man on the ground in front of them. "Go ahead, try and fuck with us."

The TV quickly cut back to the newsroom. Brenda Bree didn't wait to speak since she was a professional she knew how to keep things going. "We apologize for the foul language, but we did not want to interrupt their message in the slightest. That was the very first message ever received by who we call the Saints. They have obviously shown they do not wish to be thought of in a helpful light, but I beg you not to simply cast them aside now. There was a clear point behind this message, in fact, I'm sure there were hundreds of messages. For those now thinking they will kill us all, I shall point out that on January 15th a member of the Saints saved a man from committing suicide. There are also numerous reports of money donations labeled with 'S' to charities all over the city. As well as, multiple cases of children being rescued and watched for hours to make sure they're safe. This is only a couple I have off hand, there are most likely hundreds more that have not shown proper light to have this group has done for the city. You may call me bias but I am reporting the facts. They kill, as they stated, but it's who they kill which raises the questions. They are as mysterious as ever and some reasons for that message come to my head but to say them would – in fact – ruin the very message so I will not state them."

She took a breath readjusting some papers on her desk. She chuckled briefly and smiled. It was something that people who watched the news regularly would recognize as a tell. She was about to improvise completely. "The one simple fact is this. There is a madman running around the city causing anarchy. Our city is falling apart and the one group that seems to know what they're doing is becoming more active than ever. We all can see the recent boom that has occurred in death among those with criminal records. This means the Saints have shifted gears and are on a high speed course. I advise you to stay out of trouble, not because you may be arrested but because you may soon find yourself looking down the barrel of a gun. Is this deterrent necessary or is it even proper in a matter of ethics? I cannot answer that but I can say this: they said something that has touched me. We are sitting and complaining, doing nothing and begging to be saved. It's time that changes, I am not proclaiming to riot in the streets but to stand for what you believe in. Help in whatever way you can and together, we can take this city back." She paused for a moment. "We'll be right back after a few short messages."

Quistis turned the TV off. "That was something."

"That was great." I smiled. "We need to get masks for tomorrow."

"I'm a little confused as what the point was." Selphie spoke. "I thought we were trying to get the people behind us, not push them away."

"We are," I answered. "He made the line bolder than ever. No one is safe, no one can get by if they do something wrong. This will prevent most people from doing even the smallest thing in fear. At the same time, people will rally behind us."

"But why?" Selphie pushed. "We haven't done anything different to make them really want us."

"That's our job." I stood up from the bed, "He is setting us up perfectly. When we take out the mob, that will be so huge everyone will realize we mean business. It will cause everyone to love us and fear us. No one is safe, not even the most powerful and dangerous people in the city. It's so perfect. Squall has really outdone himself."

"If you say so." Selphie caved half-heartedly because it sounded like she still didn't really believe.

"She's right," Quistis agreed with me. "I don't know everything but I know Squall always knows exactly what he's doing. If we follow in his lead, I'm sure this will work."

"Yeah, but what will?" Selphie sighed, "How is this supposed to get Blaine."

"Blaine thinks he has us against a wall, so we put out a message," I answered. "What we have to do, is put him against a wall so he sends out a message. Then Quistis can find his location."

"There's so many problems with that!" Selphie exclaimed. "For one, he sends a message every week if you forgot all the terrible things we've had to watch him do to people. Why can't Quistis trace him then? Second, who says he'll even put out a message. Three, we have ran into him before, and we always lose."

I was about to answer but Quistis beat me to it. "The weekly messages he sends are so covered I can't get remotely anything on him. The point is to make him send out a message on a whim so he won't have as much protection or encryption. I've also been working on something that should help even more. We also always fight him on his terms, in his warehouses, where he wants us. We have only caught him off guard twice, and both times he showed he was powerful but not invincible. We know getting Zell into a fight with him will end with us winning. We just have to get him to trip up, that's what this whole thing is for."

"If you say so." Selphie still sounded unsure.

"Don't worry Selphie, you'll see soon." I smiled wickedly. "Let's prepare for tomorrow, I can't wait to shake this city up."

* * *

I know this chapter took a while to get out but it's fairly long so it should equal out somewhat. Leave a review, let me know what you think. Not sure when i'll be able to get the next chapter out, i hope it won't be too long. Things are picking up and it's fun to write these sections.


	23. Sadism

**March 31****st**

**Rinoa's POV **

I peered into the window to see if anyone was there. The kitchen was empty as we thought and it was indeed wise to enter in this way. I cracked open the window and held it open for Selphie to slip in. She went in smoothly and I handed her the duffle-bags. She made sure to place them carefully on the ground not to make a sound. Quistis slipped in next and I followed in after her. We stayed low to the ground as I shut the window behind me slowly.

Selphie let out a deep sigh, "I thought we were fucked when that guard almost saw us."

I tapped my finger to my lips to silence her. She gave me an apologetic grin and nodded. I pumped my hands down signaling both of them to stay low to the ground. I extended my legs slightly to peer over the counter. There was still no one in the large cooking area and I couldn't hear anyone.

I knelt back down and faced my squad. "Okay, let me hear it one more time."

Quistis answered me, "Down the hallway until we reach the stairs. We go down to the basement. There will probably be guards in the hallway, we dispatch them and enter the conference room."

"Dispatch them immediately." I stressed. "You shoot them, I don't care how many bullets it takes, I don't care if they aren't perfect shots. Just get them out of the picture. Charge into the conference room and take it. The key here is speed."

"Okay, we've gone over it." Quistis remarked.

"I know, and it's important we get it right or we're done. I won't be there to hold your hand."

"You sure you can take out all the other guys yourself?" Selphie asked.

"I hope so, otherwise I wore this thong and the tiniest-of-tiny skirts for no reason." I joked to relax them a bit.

"Speaking of which, you look super slutty." Selphie grinned.

"Oh why Selphie, how nice of you to say that, thank you." I spoke in a jokingly overjoyed voice.

"I'm still trying to figure out if you're wearing a skirt or a belt," Quistis joined in which made me happy since she seemed in a bad mood lately.

"Could go either way honestly," I looked down and the skirt didn't even go down a third of my thigh. "You didn't see the looks I got when I bought this thing."

We shared a brief laugh and it was made even shorter since someone walked into the room. She heard us instantly.

"Hello? Is someone there?" It was a woman.

I reacted instantly. I jolted to my feet, vaulted over the counter, and grabbed her. I quickly put my left hand over her mouth and tackled her to the ground. I wormed my way behind her and wrapped my right arm tightly around her neck. She squirmed as we slid back and forth on the ground. She kicked off a wall and slammed me in some cabinets. I felt some pots fall on top of us making far too much noise. I wrapped both my legs around hers' to stop her from getting any more leverage.

"Sweetie Pie, grab her nose." I ordered to Selphie, since that was her code name.

"What?" She practically shrieked.

"If you don't, I'm going to crush her wind-pipe. Pinch her nose!" I hissed.

Selphie crawled over to us and pinched the woman's nose closed. She was horrified to be this close to the woman struggling for her life. Selphie shut her eyes and turned her head away.

"It's okay," I told the woman. "We aren't killing you. You're just going to sleep for a little while, okay? It'll be over soon, you'll wake up, and everything will be okay."

True to my words the woman lost enough oxygen for her brain to shut the body down and I instantly released her. Her body would automatically keep itself alive, even unconscious.

"Get the plastic ties." I ordered.

Quistis dug into one of the duffle-bags and quickly withdrew a handful of ties. She threw them all at me nervously and I gave her a pointed look before picking two up. I tied the woman's feet together and her hands together behind her back. I dragged her over to a nearby closet and opened it. It took a moment to fit her inside with all the other crap, but once she was in with the doors shut I felt much better.

"I don't know if I can handle this." Selphie told me sincerely.

I saw Selphie and Quistis both frozen in fear with a horrified expression on their faces. They needed a pep-talk so I quickly thought what Squall would say. They needed to be motivated to do this. I couldn't do it without them and if they hesitate, they could both end up dead. Above all else, I was worried if they went into this without being fully prepared they might not make it out.

I walked over to the two girls and held both their hands. "Look, this is it girls, we can do this. When they write the history of the world, when they talk about what happened in Deling. They will talk about this day; the day all five major players in organized crime were taken out. We will turn this city upside down, shake out all the scum, and then flip it back right-side-up." They weren't completely sold yet so I decided to take a deeper approach. "Everyone in their lives wishes for that one moment to define themselves. One moment that will define their entire life and embed them into the history of the world. Everyone wants the opportunity to change something, to make the world better. Girls, this is our chance. This is all on us. Squall, Seifer, Zell, Irvine, _everyone _in Delingis counting on us. Even if they don't know it, they are. Think about those poor people huddled in their homes to afraid to leave. We can set them free. We do this, and we change the world."

I squeezed their hands. "Are you with me?"

"Yes." Selphie told me and squeezed back firmly.

"Of course, just lead the way," Quistis answered.

"Let me just finish changing." I opened up the duffle-bag and pulled out some very cliché dark purple stiletto heels, but hey, they were a cliché for a reason. They helped strengthen the vibe I was going for. I couldn't run outside with these things on so I kept them in the bag until now. Honestly, I was dreading putting these massive things on, they were going to kill my feet. I got them on and was already regretting it. I stood up and pulled my shift off. I put on a tiny jacket that was at least two sizes too small. I zipped it up tightly and stopped right below my upper chest to expose mass cleavage.

"Damn girl," Selphie did a little whistle.

"Your boobs are huge," Quistis commented.

"I have the bra strap pulled tighter than I ever thought possible," I explained with a grunt as I fixed my chest. "I swear, I feel like I'm in a corset."

Selphie walked up to me and readjusted my jacket and pulled the zipper a little higher. She grabbed my breasts and moved them slightly so they'd have a little more pop. This wasn't weird in the slightest, there aren't many boundaries I have with these two girls anymore. In fact, I appreciated Selphie's contribution because it made my chest look even bigger. Secretly this was every girl's fantasy.

I saw a mirror and walked in front of it. I definitely looked the part of a stripper. Yes, not exactly what a girl ever wanted to be compared to, but in my line of work it is a sort of compliment…sort of. "Damn, I'd do me." I joked.

"How can you fight in that?" Quistis asked.

"Don't worry, I got that covered, just worry about yourself." I marched back over to the duffle-bag and put the strap over my shoulder. "Okay, I'm going to get going, wait a couple minutes and then you guys make your move. Okay? You can do this."

They both still appeared nervous but they looked at least a little more confident. I knew waiting around anymore would only make it worse. So, I gave them a confident smirk that I think Squall would be proud of, and walked out of the kitchen.

I knew the room I was heading to courtesy of all the people I 'interviewed' over the past two weeks. I spent all my time preparing for today and I knew exactly how everything would go down. In the basement was the main meeting. Quistis and Selphie were going to keep them preoccupied while I took out all the body-guards. Since no mob boss trusts another one, they make everyone wait in a different room. I was heading towards _that_ room. The one filled with some of the most dangerous people in the city – possibly the world. They weren't just any old criminals a part of the mob. These were the personal bodyguards of the guys on the top. That meant: they were the best as well. Anyone else wouldn't be able to accomplish this, but luckily, women can bypass certain restrictions.

I found the room easily enough. I could hear a lot of men talking on the other side with a TV turned up loud. Men watching sports…shocker. I saw two locked cabinets next to the door and I knew that's where all their weapons were. To be allowed into this house they had to be disarmed. It made sense so no unnecessary bloodshed would occur, but it only made it even easier for me.

I made sure my breasts were sticking out enough and then knocked on the door. While I waited I rested one hand on my hip and leaned casually. A rather big guy opened the door but was talking over his shoulder as he did. When he finally looked at me he froze.

"S'up big boy." I winked.

He turned back to face the room, "Did anyone call a titty-dance?"

"What?" I heard from inside. "A stripper's here?"

"Who's the wise guy?" I heard another voice.

"This isn't funny, if the bosses' see this, we'll be run out."

"Yeah, today's an important day, we can't be seen slacking off."

I roughly pushed the man in the door out of the way. He didn't seem upset in the slightest, because for some unexplainable reason, men love it when strippers aren't 'nice'. I got a good look around the room. There was one big U-shaped couch surrounding the large flat-screen TV and six of the guys were on the couch. There were two armchairs behind the couch which is where two more guys sat. One guy was leaning against a wall and the last one was the one who opened the door. There were ten guys in total, if I had to guess, each boss was allowed to bring two of his closest men. That's good, I was afraid there would be more.

I didn't even have to even emphasize swaying my hips, since these obnoxious heels did that for me. "Relax boys, your boss called me."

"Oh yeah?" One guy didn't buy that at all.

"Do you even know how much I cost?" I raised an eyebrow and crossed my arms. "Trust me, you couldn't afford me in ten years."

"You must be pretty good then," One guy smiled as his eyes went up and down.

"I'm about to entertain ten guys, and also…" I leaned on the arm of a chair one man was sitting in, "I'm not just a stripper."

"Shit, I'm going first!" One guy jumped to his feet.

"Fuck you!" Someone exclaimed. "I'm going first."

It's strange. I feel special having these guys fight over me, but at the same time, I'm a prostitute right now, so it doesn't really feel that great.

"No one has to go first," I told them all nonchalantly as I picked at a split-end in my hair. They all took a moment to digest what that meant before it sunk in. Some got even more excited while others shook their head that it was too weird. It didn't take long before they started arguing among themselves. This was the plan, to get them distracted enough before I pull out my handguns. Killing ten unarmed and unsuspecting guys with two guns; it's too easy.

"What's going on here?" I heard a very rough and deep voice come behind me. I glanced over my shoulder and almost lost my cool. He was huge and he _literally_ ducked under the doorframe to get inside. His teeth were all bent or chipped. His nose was flattened and he had an ugly scar running across his forehead as if some brain surgery went wrong. I only lost it for a second and everyone was distracted to notice. I got my cool once again and threw the new man a bored look.

"Oh Toothless." One guy said.

So this was Toothless, McGregor's right hand man. He was by no means toothless, but it was close enough. He took care of all McGregor's many, many dirty deals. I understood why people were so scared of him. I know he use to underground box back in Balamb which was the toughest of toughest underground boxing. That's what Squall use to do and I wondered briefly if Squall fought guys like this. Toothless looked like he could crush my skull with one hand. He didn't look too pleased with seeing me either. This could pose a problem.

"Some entertainment for us." One guy explained.

"Who said this was allowed?" He growled.

"T-the boss." Someone answered.

"I didn't hear anything about that." Everyone grew silent too afraid to question him. He was scaring the other mob members…this man must've been tough.

I had to do something quick. I gave him a sexy smile, "So you're Toothless?"

"What's it to ya." He sneered.

"Sorry boys," I looked around the room briefly before walking towards Toothless. "I have special orders from McGregor himself to see to it Toothless gets the best treatment." I looked up at the beast of a man. "I'm you're reward for all your hard work." I tried to stay calm in the following moments because he was hard to read at first. But he was a guy and like all guys…his eyes eventually drifted to my chest. "Come on big boy-" I will never understand why guys like to be called that, "-let me treat you right."

"Go on!" Someone shouted.

"Do her!" Another yelled.

Soon the room became full of guys encouraging him and even this monster couldn't resist. "You better be good."

"Oh I am." I grabbed his hand and led him over to the armchair. The man sitting in it quickly got up to allow Toothless to take a seat. I set the duffle-bag next to the chair. I looked at the rest of the guys, "Turn that fucking TV off and put some music on." Again, guys like strippers to be rough for whatever reason. I don't question it; it's just how it is. I took my heels off. "I'm taking these off, I hate them." I explained, it was true and I'm sure they understood.

They quickly scrambled to do what I asked. I was half surprised they were able to find a fairly good song to dance too. I took a moment to compose myself before I started. I began by slowly swaying my hips and then would run my hands up and down my body. I could feel everyone watching me, and that's exactly what I wanted. This was part of my training. Like everyone else, I worked out, practiced shooting, practiced fighting, and then I practiced dancing; more specifically…stripping. It was part of the job. Squall told me when I joined the team that's what I was going to be doing and he wasn't lying. I did this so many times I lost count, but this time, the stakes were a little higher.

"You can't touch me until I say so, okay?" I told him. Strippers always gave rules.

"Fine." He grunted.

What a dick. I stopped dancing for a moment and reached into my duffle-bag. I withdrew two pink, very fuzzy, handcuffs. I moved towards Toothless but his hand snapped out and grabbed my wrist.

"They're pink and furry….you could break these in a moment," I deadpanned. I know common sense would say talking like an innocent girl and say something like, 'oh you're so strong you shouldn't be scared'. But again, guys don't actually like that when it comes to strippers….guys are so fucking weird. I said it in a way that was making him look weak in front of all the guys, this was always the biggest blow to a guy. Insult his masculinity and he'll do anything to prove otherwise.

He noticed everyone else staring at him and he relented. "Fine." He outstretched his two arms. He keeps acting like he doesn't care I'm here, but that's such a lie. He would've kicked me out instantly, and he never would have let me dance for him. Even furthering my point, he never, ever, would let me put handcuffs on him if he didn't care about me. Oh no, he wanted me and he wanted me bad. He was just playing the tough guy and that was fine.

I put them on loosely which seemed to make him content. Putting them on tight wasn't the point anyways. I started dancing again. Just swaying the hips and running my hands up and down. I made sure some of my hair was always in front of my face. Guys just liked it, and whatever guys liked, I was doing. The beat picked up a little which was perfect for me. I moved closer to the armchair before turning around and giving him a lap dance. Yup, this was happening. This was my job. It's always now I think back to those first couple jobs when I was nervous and embarrassed. Now, it doesn't bother me in the slightest. Everyone in this room would be dead soon enough, so what did it matter what I did before that. And I have to say, I got pretty good at them. I think any guy would love to have me as a girlfriend.

I could feel his arousal through his pants which was great so I turned around to face him. I could see in his eyes he was loving all of it. He unzipped my jacket slowly. I lifted my arms and gave him a seductive smile. He took it completely off, which left me in just my bra. I moved on top of Toothless. I straddled him with my knees on either side and I flicked my hair so I hit him in the face. I kept my face close to his as I grinded him. I was taking this so far because I had to make sure everyone was focusing on me. I had to bring the dance close to a climax and then strike; right when everyone lost focus. And that point just arrived. I kept my knees planted and leaned all the way backwards. This move took me some time to learn and lots of yoga since the stretch was a hard one. I felt Toothless place his hands on my stretched stomach as I did. I went all the way until I was upside down with my head and arms near the floor now.

Then I made my move.

I reached into my duffle-bag and withdrew my two handguns. I put the guns on the ground with my hands pressing down on top of them. I swung my feet upwards – making sure to kick Toothless in the face as I did – so I was now in a handstand. I finished the flip so I was back on my feet and now sprung up with my guns. I didn't hesitate to start shooting into the crowd of men. They didn't even have time to react before bullets started slamming into them. I took out seven of them almost instantly before Toothless kicked me. It was a powerful kick and I fell to the ground on my chest. I quickly jumped to my feet to see Toothless charge me, but then he made his mistake. He pulled to break the handcuffs but the razor wire I had hidden in the fur prevented any breaking. They dug into his wrists and blood began spraying all over the place. He severed both main arteries in his wrists…he just killed himself. He fell to the ground screaming as he tried to stop the bleeding, but he was just making it worse.

This meant there were three people left.

I turned to see one charging me and just before he reached me I put a couple bullets into him. He fell forward with the momentum from running. He fell into me which knocked my hands downward. I pushed the dead body off me but I couldn't bring my hands up in time for the next, guy who swung a powerful fist at me. I was able to duck under it just in time and rose strongly with a knee to his gut causing him to bend over. I put my hands on his back to keep him bent over and slammed him with my knee twice more. I dragged him so he was between me and the last remaining guy. I kicked him outwards at the last guy who messily stepped around him to come at me. The guy I kicked hit the back of the couch and flipped over it.

The last guy made to grab me, probably thinking he was stronger than me. He grabbed my shoulder with his right hand – only because I let him – and tried to pull me. I reacted my jabbing the inside of his elbow, making his arm bend. I then wrapped my arm around his currently bent right arm and quickly stepped behind him while pushing him to make sure he stood in front of me. I kicked the back of his leg to make him lose any balance he had left, and one more kick to his leg caused him to fall to his knee. His arm was now backwards and outstretched in an upwards direction. I pulled it just a little more than the body could bend, and heard the successful scream from his mouth letting me know it worked. I kicked the back of his head sending him flying into the wall.

I turned around to see the man who I kicked over the couch earlier finally standing up. I wasted no time to charge him. I planted my foot on the back of the couch and sprang off it in a big jump. I brought my feet in front of me and landed so both my legs were placed on his shoulders' squeezing his head with my feet crossed on his back. Since I had the forward momentum from the jump I didn't fight it, but went with it. I simply twisted my body so we both twisted as we fell. I landed on my side, which was my intention. I then yanked my legs so he was on top of me and readjusted them so they were squeezing his windpipe. He had no chance of prying my legs off with his arms and within moments he was dead.

I quickly got to my feet and jumped back over the couch. I picked up my hand guns and shot a couple more bullets into anyone I wasn't completely sure was already dead. Toothless was still on the floor bleeding out but I didn't shoot him. I heard some nightmarish stories about this man and felt he deserved what he had coming. His wrists were almost falling off his arms at this point because he kept yanking at the razor-wire. Don't mess with razor-wire, that shit can rip leather easily.

I put my tiny jacket back on but didn't zip it up since it was so small. I reached into my duffle-bag and pulled out some extra ammo clips. I stuck one in the front waistline of the skirt. I put the weapons down for a moment and finally loosened my bra slightly to get my breasts some breathing room. As much as I liked seeing them bigger, it was far too uncomfortable. I stuck a clip of ammo between my cleavage—nature's natural holder. I stuck one handgun in the back of my skirt. I could've brought an extra change of clothes but that wouldn't exactly accomplish what I was setting out to do. I reached into the duffle-bag for the last two items. A nice sharp knife and a mask. It was a hard plastic old-school hockey mask with a bunch of paint splatters. It looked very creepy and that's exactly what I wanted. I put the knife in my mouth to hold it as I put the mask on but the strap in the back was too loose. I started walking to the door as I fiddled with the strap, which was hard since I still had one gun in my hand.

When I got to the door and reached for the handle it suddenly opened. The man on the other side froze in shock at seeing the bloodied massacred room. I swiftly dropped my mask and opened my mouth to let the knife fall out. I grabbed it in my free hand and slashed it across his neck. Never, and I mean _never, _cut a person's neck while standing in front of them. I was rewarded by being sprayed with his blood…a lot of his blood. It got me all over, in my nose, eyes, mouth…every-fucking-thing.

He collapsed to the ground gurgling over his own blood.

"Oh fucking great," I cursed looking down as I spat a couple times to try and get the taste of iron out of my mouth. My white exposed stomach had splatters of someone else's blood. Gross. I sighed, "Whatever, no time to waste." I was starting to become more sadistic than Squall.

I fixed the strap on the mask and slid it on my face. I made my way down to the basement ready to take the next step in the plan. The real one. I was happy to see the guards in the hallway were dead. I quickly scanned over their bodies and they were filled with bullet holes. Selphie and Quistis definitely went overboard but I'd rather have that then one living.

"Stay in your fucking seat!" I heard Quistis scream through the door.

"Let's just stay calm."

Great, I told them to control the room and they weren't.

"Don't move!" Selphie shouted.

"Just put the guns down and we'll talk. Do you think you're getting out of here alive if you kill us?"

"Shut up!" Selphie screamed.

"Killing us is not smart, leave now, and we'll let you go."

"Shut the fuck up!" Quistis screamed.

"Just put the guns down."

"Damn it," I cursed. They were doing a horrible job. I know they weren't trained for this but they were giving the people held hostage the advantage. I'll show them how to control a room.

I swung open the door and shut it behind me. The room was barren except for one round table with five chairs at it. Currently, four of those chairs were taken by people sitting in them. The fifth was empty because one of the mob bosses was heading towards Quistis. Everyone in the room stopped talking and froze when they saw me. I couldn't blame them. I was wearing no shoes, a small unzipped jacket with a bra, a tiny skirt that may just be a belt, with a scary mask, and I was covered in blood. Who wouldn't fucking freeze seeing me? That's the point. I was a demanding presence.

"What the fuck?" The boss on his feet said.

"Here's what's happening!" I shouted. "Everyone is going to shut up and do as I say. If you don't, I will kill you."

The one man on his feet held up his hands and faced me, "Now just wait-"

I buried a bullet into his head and he died instantly. Just like that, I killed one of the most dangerous man in the country. His lifeless body fell in an awkward position with his eyes staring and mouth ajar.

"Do as I say or die." I warned the rest.

Another one jumped to his feet. "You fucking-"

I put a bullet in his head too not giving him even two seconds to protest. He died just like the first. Two down, three to go.

"Would anyone else like to speak?" And not so surprisingly, no one did. They knew I meant business and would not hesitate to kill again. I gave Quistis a look indicating that's how someone controls a room. She had a mask on so it was hard to tell but I knew she was ashamed at how easily I did that. You have to show power right away, that's what I did, and that's what Quistis and Selphie should've done.

"Here's what's going down," I strongly told the room. "You three mobster guys are going to climb onto the table and strip." I waited a few seconds knowing they were going to hesitate before yelling at them. "Fucking strip, now!" And just for good measure I put a bullet right passed one of their heads'. I knew he heard the bullet whiz by and it's a scary thing for sure.

Sure enough, all three climbed onto the table and started taking their clothes off. Once they were all down to their underwear they looked at me what to do next.

I scratched the side of my head with the tip of my gun feigning frustration. "Did I say stop?"

"You-"

I put another bullet right passed the man's head. I wasn't going to allow them any room to argue, that was Quistis and Selphie's mistakes.

"Drop those panties gentlemen, I wanna see some old man balls." They hesitated but sure enough they dropped them. "Now sit down, backs to one another, and legs straight out. Then you will take your hands and put them over your balls, because let's be honest, no one wants to see that."

They did as they were told instantly. Damn I was good. This way, I knew they weren't hiding anything, they were in a bad position to attack, and their hands and feet were visible. It wasn't just to humiliate them, but that effect was a plus.

"Sweetie Pie, could you watch the door?" I kindly ordered Selphie, who nodded and moved towards the door. "Now watch the door, don't look at us, and anyone that comes through, pull the trigger. Don't wait, just pull the trigger."

"Yes, Angel," Selphie replied and pointed her shotgun righty at the door.

"Blondie," I directed at Quistis. "Could you be a doll and move to the other side of the room and watch them from that angle?"

"Yes, Angel." She replied curtly and did as was told.

"Let's start with introductions, shall we?"I started walking around the round table. The three men stared at me; even the one facing the opposite way cranked his neck to look at me. I stopped walking and pointed at the man directly in front of me. Like all men pushing middle-age, he was white and pasty, balding, with a sizable gut. "You are, good sir?"

"Fuck you!" He exclaimed.

I wasted no time and charged him. I put one hand on the table and vaulted onto it. I flipped the handgun around so I gripped the barrel and then I slammed the butt of the gun across his face. I quickly hopped off the table and pointed the gun back at them, just in case one was going to make a move. The man held his face and let out a few curse words. Getting pistol-whipped hurts like an absolute bitch, especially when taking one right on the jaw. I was half surprised I didn't knock some of his teeth out.

"I guess I really need to say this, don't I? Do _not_ fuck with me." I pointed my gun at him and strongly shouted. "What the fuck is your name!"

"Vlad." He grunted.

"Well, Trabian stereotypes appear true." I smirked.

I kept walking and stopped at the next man. He was skinny with darker skin. He was younger than the other two, but he amassed a lot of stress lines over the years. It was also pretty obvious he had some drug abuse in his life and he was probably still using.

"Now, I'm not racist or anything," I started, "But based off your skin color, I'm guessing you're Juelz?"

"That is racist poonta, but I'll forgive ya, because you're kinda turning me on right now." He lifted up his hands from his crouch. "See?"

Damn, he wasn't kidding. That dude was fucked up. I pressed on and stopped in front of the last man. He was eyeing me with cold eyes that held no fear whatsoever. If anything, they looked pissed like I was wasting his time. Like any moment he would just get up and walk out. He was also balding and fatter than the first. His facial features made him unique with a big, long nose and some rather large lips as well.

I leaned on the table, "So you must be McGregor?"

"You already know who we are," He growled. "This was well planned. You're covered in blood, which tells me you've taken out all the guards already. Why bother with introductions?"

I shrugged, "Double checking." He was right, of course. I did know all of them, I've stared at their pictures long enough to see them in my sleep…which was horrible.

"You're obviously the Saints," McGregor kept speaking, and I was thinking about silencing him, but he was interesting me so far. "Just kill the other two and let me go already, I don't have time for this."

"The fuck you say Pooka!" Juelz cursed at McGregor turning to him.

"McGregor what are you saying!" Vlad cried out.

McGregor ignored them and kept looking at me. "You know what I'm talking about." I didn't have a clue actually but I didn't say anything.

"The fuck are you talking about muthafucker?" Juelz glared at McGregor angrily.

"Unlike you stupid assholes, I made a deal with the Saints long ago," McGregor spat at his two allies. He turned back to me and I was happy I was wearing this mask because he would've seen a very shocked and stupid expression on my face. "So tell your little leader Squall, that he can suck my hairy nuts, because we have a deal. And if this is Seifer trying to act big on his own, you better knock him down a peg. You are in for one rude-fucking-awakening when this is all over."

Holy shit…what was he talking about? What deal was he talking about? He actually knows Squall and Seifer? What the fuck! What in the world did I just stumble on?

"Angel?" Selphie questioned meekly from the door.

"Eyes on the door, Sweetie Pie," I called out in a normal voice, and I thanked God it didn't crack in surprise.

I quickly racked my brain with what to do next when something popped into my head. It was the conversation we had right before splitting up.

Squall asked me…

_"McGregor. Does that sound familiar?"_

_"He's Balambian mob right?" _

_"Yes, he's been untouchable from us."_

_"Too dangerous?"_

_\_

_"No, it was a promise I made, well, a better word is __**deal**__. I don't have time to explain everything, but Seifer and I cannot take him out…actually, none of us can without me breaking that deal."_

_"Are you sure then?"_

_"Yes, it's time, he needs to go, I want you to do this for me."_

_"Shall I keep it separate from the Saints name?"_

_"No, I want him to know it was us, can you do this for me?"_

"_Yes"_

"Oh that." I played with the gun in my hands nonchalantly. "Yeah…deals off."

"What!" He hissed.

I had no idea what the deal was, but I knew I could trust Squall, he wouldn't let me down. Whatever it was, he knew what he was doing. He told me to take out McGregor and I was going to do that.

"Ha, looks like ya in the same boat as us, ya stupid fuck!" Juelz spat.

McGregor wasn't backing down. "I spared their fucking lives! They were in my hands to kill and I saved them. Those two stupid kids owe me."

"Like I said, deals off." I repeated.

"Oh you don't even know what you're doing." He chuckled before turning it into a laugh. "This is so far above you, I can tell. Even with that mask on, you're an open book! You don't understand anything."

"Deals off, nothing you can do." I pressed on not wanting to delay any further. Just because I took out the guards didn't mean I wanted to spend all day down here. I started walking around the table again.

"We can work something out," Vlad begged.

I stopped walking in front of him. I put both my hands behind my back and bent over, mimicking what an adorable girl might do. However, being soaked in blood and a plastic mask covering my face had a different effect: insanity. And it was working better than I expected.

"We're going to play a little game." I informed them all. "It's called…who wants to stay alive!" I shouted throwing my arms wide and then started clapping as if an audience. "Welcome to today's show, the gentlemen participating today are none-other than McGregor, Vlad, and Juelz. For those just tuning in, here's how the game works. Everyone starts out with one minute to live. I will be asking questions worth minutes and whoever answers them, will be granted some extra life time. Yes, that does mean these three participants will be completing against one another. Now, this isn't a game without a prize, so what's the grand prize you ask? It's a vacation! How exciting! Where is this vacation? Outside of this room so who gives a fuck!"

"D'is bitch crazy!" Juelz exclaimed laughing.

"But she just gave us a way out," Vlad spoke. "I'm telling you two right now, I will do whatever it takes to survive this. If that means giving you to up, then that's what I'll do."

"That's the spirit!" I cheered. "Now, onto the first question. We'll start easy, and this will be worth one minute of life. Was this meeting about discussing Blaine?"

"Yes!" Vlad shouted.

"Congrats, you have just earned…one more minute to live!" I shouted and clapped my hands with the gun dangling from my index finger.

"Next question: Are you in contact with Blaine?" There was some hesitation. "Clocks ticking." I reminded.

"It's not yes or no," Vlad answered. "We can reach him but he never answers. The only messages he leaves us is insulting."

"So he wants nothing to do with you?" I asked.

"Is this worth a minute?" Vlad inquired.

I rolled my eyes which he couldn't see behind my mask. "Sure."

"We don't know what he wants." Vlad told me. He was being quiet talkative, this might be easier than I thought. "That's why we were meeting today. We were trying to figure out what to do."

I walked around the table to stand so Juelz and McGregor could see me easily, "You guys are getting low on time here, Vlad's taking all the answers."

Juelz snorted confidently. "Vlad doesn't know shit."

"His score says differently." I rebutted.

Juelz shrugged, "Go ahead, keep asking that fat fuck questions, you won't get anything useful out of him.

I back-stepped playfully until I stood infront of Vlad again. "Vlad, there's been some rumors spreading amongst the contestants that you don't know what you're talking about."

"I do! I do!" He quickly cried out. "I'll tell you anything."

"Okay then, how do you contact Blaine?"

"…I don't know."

"Where does Blaine stay?"

"I don't know."

"What did Blaine say to you, be specific."

"H-he…hasn't talked to me."

"That's not good Vlad."

He started crying, "Please, ask me anything else!"

"I told ya," Juelz called out in a sing-song voice. "Vlad don't know shit."

I strolled back over to stand in front of Juelz. "And you do?"

"Nope," He grinned back at me. "Blaine has only talked to that white-ass over there" He nodded at McGregor. "We're here today to hear what Blaine told him, so no one else knows anything and we haven't gotten into the real discussion before you three pontas busted in the place."

"You just told me you were expendable." I informed him because, what the hell, I'm a sweetie.

"Bitch I know I ain't living through this," He grinned again. "I ain't afraid of death though, so why prolong it. Shoot me, I don't give a fuck."

"I'll come back to you." I tipped my gun at him and then went back to Vlad. I needed to see what he knew and if Juelz was telling the truth, it would be bad. McGregor was going to be the hardest to deal with.

"Well Vlad," I leaned against the table, "The game is winding down and you have been awarded an all-or-nothing question. As the name suggests, if you answer this, you go free, if you don't, you die."

He started breathing heavier but composed himself enough to speak. "Ask."

"Who…is…Blaine?"

"God." He started freaking out.

"Doubtful." I remarked.

"I don't know that! No one does! That's not fair!"

"Is Blaine his real name? At what time does he contact McGregor? How does he contact McGregor? Were you five going to align with him? Does Blaine even want you to? Can you answer any of these?"

He was crying now and slowly shook his head.

"Vlad, I'm sorry, but the time is up, you have no answer." I lifted my gun and put it against his forehead, "You lose." I growled menacingly before pulling the trigger. Needless to say, his head more-or-less exploded and splattered on the other two men.

"What the fuck!" Juelz cried out and started rubbing his head to get all the pieces of Vlad of him.

McGregor seemed unbothered by it.

I grabbed Vlad's foot and yanked him off the table. "Now, you two, back to back." They did as told.

"Are we still gonna play a game?" McGregor snidely asked.

I ignored him and stood in front of Juelz. "No bullshit Juelz, this is your chance, tell me everything you know and I might let you leave."

"Why would you do that?" He questioned somewhat seriously.

"You sure as hell aren't gonna go to the police, and you don't know what I look like." I stated two obvious facts. "You still have a chance, but you need to impress me."

He took a moment to think but in the end, he just shrugged, and I had to admit, I was shocked.

"I got nothing chica."

"You realize I'm going to kill you then." I told him earnestly.

He nodded, "Like I said, I ain't afraid of dying. But I will tell you this. McGregor runs this city, everyone else is afraid of him, and that includes me. I don't run my side of town because I took it, I do it because McGregor gave it to me and has allowed me to. As you heard earlier, he even has a deal with your boss apparently. He has his hands on everyone's balls. He knows when to tug and when to caress and most importantly…when to slice. This is why Blaine contacted him alone, because what we do doesn't mean anything without him. That's who you're dealing with. You better get real weird with McGregor because that fucker ain't ever talkin'. And don't be stupid enough to think he doesn't have plans for situations like this. He's gonna get in yo head and mess with ya so much. Ya better watch out chica."

This was all news to me, I thought there were a lot of mobsters, I didn't think they all paid this much respect to McGregor. I also didn't expect Juelz to speak so much. "You've been strangely helpful Juelz."

"I just have two favors?"

That was unexpected, but I'll bite, "What?"

"One, kill that crazy muthafucker Blaine, I hate him, he's pure evil. I do bad things, but I know they're bad, and that's okay. I don't pretend to be a good guy, I don't pretend to be something more, I'm just an alcoholic, violent, druggie, and I'm happy with being me. Blaine…he thinks he's something more and that's dangerous. People who try to be bigger than they are, are the most dangerous people in the world. So, stop him."

"The second one?"

He grinned and held out his hands, "I'll be honest, you turn me on something fierce. I always loved bad girls and you're as bad as they come. So…show me your titties?"

The fuck. "You serious?" I deadpanned.

He put his hands together as if pleading. "Last wish."

"Fine whatever," I really didn't care and who was I to deny a last wish. Guys will be guys until the very end I suppose. I lifted up my bra for a second for him to see. He smiled but the very next second I planted a bullet in his head. He fell down dead and I pulled him off the table as well.

"And one remains." I walked around to the front.

"Who are you?" He asked. "You are so much more than Squall and Seifer. If you were there from the start, I bet you would've killed us all ages ago."

"So, Blaine spoke to you," I ignored his question, "Tell me what he said."

He seemed unfazed by this. "Like I said before, you really don't understand. As Juelz already told you, I have plans for this. Do you know what my people do if I suddenly die? They destroy the city. I'm not shitting you either. I'm not exaggerating—not even a little bit. That's why I've never been stopped. Not because I've been playing it safe hiding away—the complete opposite. I go so hard on offensive, no one can stop me. I've been in this situation before, with a gun against my head, but they didn't pull the trigger. You know why? Because they realized, they would destroy everything, and it wasn't worth it. Everyone who tries to kill me wants power, but if it's all destroyed, what's the point. They have nothing to control, the same goes for you. If you kill me, you kill the city. The very thing you're trying to protect, you'll destroy."

"Doubtful."

"You don't get it, I keep telling you. You just don't understand. I control thousands of people – that once I'm dead – are just released. Normally, the police might put them down, but with Blaine too, they don't stand a chance. Not only that, but you just killed all the leaders of the other mobs! You fucking dumbass!" He started laughing loudly pointing an accusatory finger at me. "We kept everything in check, we put limitations on everything. _Organized _crime, now you just have crime. You just killed everyone."

"Mob bosses rise and die every day." I shot back. "There will be a new McGregor by week's end, I'm sure. And when there is, I'll take him out to."

"Do you know what entropy is? Do you?" He inquired arching one eyebrow. "It is defined as: the degradation of the matter and energy in the universe to an ultimate state of inert uniformity. Basically, it's the snowball effect of chaos. Once it starts, it goes on and on until everything is just absolute, utter, sheer, chaotic destruction. That's what you've just done to this city. _You _did that, and you'll see. Sure, for a day, you'll celebrate, but the day after, everything will come crashing down into complete entropy. You won't be able to fight it, you'll only make it worse. And you'll wish, more than anything, you weren't the cause for it all."

"I assume the key to saving the city from entropy is to let you live." I remarked.

He shrugged, "I can control everyone and make sure it doesn't happen." He leaned forward as if to entice me. "Also, I don't like Blaine either. He kills and destroys everything—for fun! That's insane, I don't do that. I'm a businessman, my methods may be brutal, but there's a point. I want money, power, women. Blaine wants nothing, he told me himself. I asked him, point-blank, I go, 'what do you want'? He told me, 'just having fun'. Now _that's_ fucked up. I hate Blaine, and I will team up with you to take him out. Think about it, all my resources, and your skill, it would be easy. I have contact with him, I can reach him. We could figure it out, we can work together. Let's make a _deal_."

I let out a quick chuckle. "Is that how you convinced Squall?"

"What?"

Suddenly everything became very, very clear to me. "You know McGregor, I bet you thought we came here for information on Blaine?"

"…didn't you?"

I started pacing back and forth. "Yes and no. We came here to kill you all, which I'm currently about eighty-percent complete on that objective. The optional side objective was to find some extra information on Blaine if I could. Now, I know you aren't going to tell me and I can tell by the way you're talking, you don't really have anything on him either. That's why you called everyone here today. You want to get rid of Blaine, not work with him. But, you're afraid of him, and you've never been afraid of anything before. It's okay, he's a terrifying man, I'll admit he scares the shit out of me too. You brought people here, to find some plan, to see if they know anything more. But they don't apparently, they thought you know everything, but you don't know much either. Blaine made sure of that."

I rested my hands on my hips as I thought for a second. "You see…Blaine has outsmarted everything we've ever done and it's time I stop that from happening. You propose we work together? Well…doesn't that just sound like one fan-fucking-tastic idea. See, Blaine works about ten fucking steps ahead of everyone else. So, I'm thinking eleven steps ahead here. Blaine was beating us, so we came up with a strategy, and honestly, it is working to some extent, not the greatest, but we'll get there. Now, if I was Blaine, I would make contact with you too. I wouldn't say anything to important, but I'd get you thinking. That way, if – say, I don't know – the Saints came busting in on your operation, you'd offer an alliance. Blaine would know you don't like him and try that. Then, when I agree to this alliance since it's just _so _smart, he'll show the world we worked with the biggest mobster. It would shake everyone who believes in us and cause us to become weaker. That would be just perfect for him."

"I-I don't…" McGregor trailed off thinking.

"By God," I chuckled menacingly. "You're at a loss for words. The big bad McGregor has nothing to say." I walked towards him slowly and when I reached the table I climbed onto it.

"W-What are you doing?" He choked out holding his hands up defensively.

I pushed them aside and then firmly shoved him onto his back. I crawled over him until I was straddling his sides. "The answer is _no_ McGregor, we aren't going to make a deal with you, we frankly don't give a shit what you cronies do after you die, and honestly, I just want to kill you so badly I don't cared at all what the repercussions are. You have committed sinful atrocities in this city for too long, and it's time you pay for what you've done, and _I _bring the punishment." I was leaning over him now, so his face was looking directly at my mask.

"I-I don't…w-want to die" He started crying slightly, "…please."

"They all beg," I whispered demonically. I moved my hand to my mask and slowly lifted it off my face so he could see who I was.

It only took him a brief second. "Wait…your…y-your Caraway's daughter."

I pressed the gun against the side of his head. "My name is Rinoa Heartily, I am not a murder, I am not corrupt, and I am not insane…I'm simply doing God's Dirty Work."

I pulled the trigger and I just rid the world of the five most dangerous people.

"Holy shit, Rinoa," Quistis took off her masks and her eyes were scanning the room of the dead bodies.

"I can't believe this." Selphie ushered quietly. She took her mask off as well and turned to me. "I-I can't believe _you._"

I hopped off the table and headed towards the duffle bag. I pulled out one of Selphie's homemade explosives and put it directly on McGregor's face…just cause. The other one was still back in the other room in the first duffle-bag. It was a precaution to make sure there was no actual evidence if something managed to slip us by. The blast would be big but with shut doors, it would be contained. A fire would most likely start and we hoped the maids and other service people would get out in time. If they didn't, that was there fault; there would be more than enough time. We exited the way we came and snuck off into the gardens surrounding the house. Selphie hit the button and we could even hear the explosions outside. We heard people yelling and screaming. They weren't sure what was happening and they were trying to figure it out.

"Okay, Selphie," I nodded at her, "Last one."

She smirked and hit a different button. A series of smaller explosions erupted and we used all this as the diversion to escape. It was fairly easy.

Fast-forward an hour and we were back in some shitty hotel. We sat watching the TV since there was already news stations covering the latest on McGregor's mansion. They didn't know anything yet, but it was pretty obvious something went down. What's better was the second trigger Selphie pressed. It didn't do any damage but it was a track of gasoline that gave our message to the world. The news helicopter picked it up easily and they kept it up on the screen since it told the world what happened. The three words burned into the grassy yard for the world to see.

**God's Dirty Work. **

"It gives me chills," Selphie commented.

"Me too." I returned. I stood up and stretched, "Well…I'm covered in blood and feel disgusting, I'm going to take a bath."

I went through my usual routine and was thoroughly enjoying my bath until Selphie walked in. She put the toilet lid down, sat down, and looked at me. She then casted her eyes down and played with her fingers nervously. She looked back up at me, then back down.

"Selphie…is there something I can help you with?" I asked politely.

"…kinda." She kept playing with her fingers.

"You know I love when you come in and have conversations when I'm naked in a tub so please don't think you're interrupting or anything."

"Okay, good."

I rolled my eyes. "Just say it then."

"You scare me!" She exclaimed suddenly. Immediately afterwards her eyes widened and she clasped both hands over her mouth. "I'm sorry." she squeaked out from behind her hands.

"…I scare you?" I'll admit, that was a shocker.

"I know I like…shouldn't say anything, but like…you're my friends and I don't like hiding…this…from like you…ya know?"

I eyed her suspiciously. "If this is about me forcing you to shoot those guys in the alleyway a couple weeks ago…"

"No it's not," She shook her head, "Well…it is, but not just that…it's…like…everything."

"Everything?" Did we really need to have this conversation when I was in the bath? What was it about not being able to wash myself without something dramatic happening?

"You've been acting weird."

I clicked my tongue in annoyance. She heard it since it was pretty obvious in the quiet bathroom. It stopped her from talking as she just stared at me.

"Go on." I told her firmly.

"Rin…you know I love you."

"Yes, and I love you." I told her truly but my strong gaze was holding fast, and it seemed to be freaking her out.

"It's just…we've been-"

"We?" I inquired. I rolled my eyes before calling out. "Quistis, please, come join us in the bathroom, we're having the most wonderful discussion."

After a brief moment she strolled in and leaned against the sink. She brushed a strand of hair behind her ear and fixed her classes. She proceeded to cross her arms and stare at me. "You changed. Plain and simple."

"Change isn't bad." I remarked.

"No, it's not." Quistis responded. "But, it isn't always good either."

I used my thumb and index finger to rub the inside corner of my eyes. "Okay…let's not draw this out or dance around it. Just hit me, it's okay, I can take it."

Quistis did not hesitate to let me have it. "You're bloodthirsty, you're sadistic, you're – if I'm being frank – terrifying. You kill without caring, you brutalize your victims, and play with them like toys. You have no remorse for anything anymore, forcing Selphie to do thing she doesn't want to. You give me attitude when I say something you don't like, you act like you're some god or something."

"You wanna know what this is really about?" I pressured. "This is about you two never seeing what really goes down. You lived in your world of bliss, of perfection. Oh, you thought you were doing good because you were a part of the Saints, and you helped those in need. But you didn't do any of the dirty work, you kept your hands clean, and now that you got some bloody on them…you're trying your hardest to wipe them clean."

"I've killed before," Selphie argued, "But not like this, not with this sadistic torment you keep doing. It's scary Rinoa, not because of what you're doing, but because what it does to you."

"Oh God," I laughed in frustration. "Please, please don't tell me this is affecting me in some way that you're just worried about me."

"It is!" Quistis snapped. "And it's pretty obvious why you're doing this."

I moved my hand in a circular motion trying to speed them up, "Let's hear it then."

"You lost to Blaine."

I clenched my jaw, "That…and this…have nothing-"

"It has everything to do with it," Quistis cut me off. "You lost, it was a blow to your ego, but really, it makes you scared. You are doing everything perfectly now. I can admit that, I can admit that you are incredible with the feats you've accomplished. Rinoa, you just took out all the mafia bosses in the city, that's incredible! It's great, and I firmly believe only you could do that. But, it means something has happened to you—to make you so detailed and orderly in killing people. It all goes back to Blaine. There is a dire contrast to you before and after."

Before I could respond the phone rang. The phone doesn't ring for us. That meant Squall was calling, which meant, we better answer. Wordlessly Quistis left the room and picked up the phone. Selphie and I listened from the bathroom.

"Hey." She answered. "We were just talking…thank you it was all Rinoa really…we're good, how are you and Seifer…are you really though…oh really…" Her voice rose dramatically saying that and it peaked my and Selphie's interest. "…I don't see why not, I think it's a good idea…I'm sure she'll be okay with it…no you aren't overreacting…no it isn't special treatment…it might be tough with Zell but…no I think it's a good idea, kinda jealous honestly…Rinoa? Yeah you can talk to her."

She walked back into the bathroom and handed me the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey Rinoa, you did amazing today, I can't wait to hear all about it."

"I appreciate that Squall, I can't wait to hear about the deal you made with McGregor."

"Oh…" His voice instantly dropped. "Yeah…"

"Yeah…" I mimicked him, I was still in a bitter mood because of Selphie and Quistis. "Look Squall, I'm kinda in the middle of getting yelled at by my two _friends_." I stressed the word and send a glare at the two girls. Selphie looked away but Quistis met my stare head on.

"About being too sadistic?"

"That's a pretty good guess, they've complained to you I'm guessing."

"Yeah, more or less," At least he admitted it. "But…I kind of agree."

"Oh great," I rolled my eyes even if he couldn't see them.

"I think it's good for right now though." He quickly added.

"Really?"

"Yeah, you kind of need to be to accomplish this."

A small smile spread across my face, "Thanks, I'm glad you understand."

"But…you can't keep shutting those two out; they are really worried about you."

I let out an exaggerated sigh so he knew I was annoyed. "I know but like…it isn't that easy. And besides, who are you to give friendship advice."

He chuckled, "Oh just wait, it's about to get better. I'm about to pimp out Selphie."

"What?" I gasped covering my mouth with my hand. "What do you mean?"

"Relax, it isn't that bad. Irvine is just having a real problem and I was thinking about allowing Selphie and Irvine to spend a night together."

"…you can't just throw two people together in a room and force them to fuck their problems away." That line got me a strange look from Selphie but Quistis didn't react, which told me she knew about this plan already.

"I know, alright, but I think Irvine could use the break, and by the sounds of it, Selphie could to."

Maybe she did just need to get laid and then all this tension would calm down. Afterall, our apartment was full of horn-dogs basically. It was amazing no one was having sex in our place even for an hour, but that was bound to happen with young-adults all living together. To go cold turkey…that's tough. Luckily, I hadn't had sex in a while so I was use to it…okay that's not that lucky…but I stand by my point. Selphie could use the break, hell Quistis too.

"Okay, but why don't you let Quistis and Seifer as well." I offered. Quistis arched an eyebrow hearing me say that. I put a hand over the microphone, "Oh Quistis, I'm pimping you out, that cool?"

She smiled inwardly, "Yeah…sure."

"What's going on?" Selphie finally asked.

"I'm pimping you out too," I told her with a wink.

Squall finished speaking, which I obviously didn't hear, so I asked him to repeat himself.

"I said," He growled, obviously not a fan of repeating himself. "I'm not completely against it, but I don't want to leave you alone."

"I can handle myself. Maybe I'll just hang with Zell." I could tell he hesitated in answering. "Is something wrong with Zell?"

I heard Squall let out a sigh, "He's taking it pretty badly—the break up that is."

"Well did you hear how he broke up with Kristi," I harshly reminded. "It wasn't pretty."

"I know, I know. So, I'm not sure if he wants to do anything. Apparently, you aren't the only sadistic one. According to Irvine, things have gotten crazy with Zell, and he is showing zero mercy against all enemies."

"So how come he doesn't get in trouble?" I complained almost in a childish whine.

"Because Zell could kick all our asses, so who's going to stop him."

"That's an insult to him, me, and everyone," I remarked, "But, you do have a habit of insulting multiple people at once."

"Whatever."

"Well, I want to talk to Kristi."

"You can't!" He cried out.

Selphie and Quistis both leaned in closer hearing me say that as well.

"Relax, it will look like two girls are having lunch, if that seems suspicious, then the world really has gone to shit."

"Rinoa, I don't-"

"I'm doing it," I told him, which was crazy, since no one argued against Squall. "I feel bad for Zell, I'm not going to get them back together, but I'm going to explain to Kristi, something happened, and just wait. If she really loves him, she will."

"And what if she tries to find him?" Squall questioned.

"If she can find us that easily, than you can be damn sure Blaine will."

There was a long silence.

"Fine."

"Oh Squally, you're a peach."

"I hate this new confident you, do you know that?"

I laughed openly, "Psh, you get turned on by me now."

Quistis groaned, "Please don't start having phone-sex."

"Well I am in the tub, on the phone, now would be the perfect time," I winked at the two girls in the bathroom.

"Perfect time for what?" I heard Squall on the other line.

"Oh Squall, you wanna do what with the handcuffs?" I let out a seductive smack of the lips. "You're so dirty."

"I'm out," Selphie stood up to leave.

"What the fuck!" Squall exclaimed on the other end.

I started laughing loudly. "Alright, alright. Selphie wait." I grabbed her hand before she walked out the door. "Do you want to see Irvine tonight?"

"Really?" She came back and knelt down beside me. "Please tell me you're serious!"

I nodded happily, "Yes, you've been booty-called. You'll meet up with Irvine tonight." I turned to Quistis, "Same with you. You get to see Seifer, don't know what you see anything in him, but whatever suits you."

"His enormous penis suits me," Quistis winked.

"Eww," Selphie cried out shaking her head rapidly. "So gross, I don't want to think about Seifer like that."

"What's happening over there, I hear yelling?" Squall asked.

"We're talking about Seifer's penis," I told him honestly with a smirk spread across my face just waiting for his response.

"…the fuck?" He was obviously disturbed.

I heard some tussling in the background of the phone and I wasn't sure what was going on.

"Rinoa?" It was Seifer.

"Uh, hey Seifer."

"Talking about my penis huh, we'll if you'd like-"

"Shut up!" I cried out and threw the phone at Quistis. "It's for you."

"Hello?" It took about five seconds her face to flush red. "…I can't Rinoa's in the tub."

"Are you trying to have phone sex!" Selphie squealed. "Just wait until tonight."

"Ah holy shit Quistis!" I cried out laughing along with Selphie.

"Shut up!" Quistis hissed back and threw the phone at me.

I caught it and prevented it from falling in the tub – laughing the entire time. "Hey Seifer, Quistis I busy right now, but I'm in the tub if you just wanna do it with me."

"Gross," Seifer snorted, "Here, commander-puberty, your girls in the tub."

After a brief moment I heard Squall on the line again. "You're in the tub?"

"Yup," I replied.

"So…you're naked?"

I rolled my eyes, I knew where this was going. "Nope, I always wear a swimsuit when I bathe."

"So…you _are _naked?"

"Yes Squall, I am completely nude, you are talking to me with no clothes on and soaking wet."

"But that means…Selphie and Quistis are there too."

I rolled my eyes again, guys and their weird girl-on-girl fetishes. "Yeah, we were all bathing together. You called in the middle and made Quistis get out, things were just getting good to."

"What do you mean…getting good?"

"I mean – oh God Selphie, I'm on the phone…S-Selphie please," I started moaning into the phone. I gave a deep moan that slowly rose in tone until it was really loud. This greatly attracted Selphie and Quistis attention as they stared at me. "Selphie no, no too h-hard, p-please…oh God!"

Selphie nudged Quistis with a wide grin plastered across her face, "She isn't saying your name."

"I don't want her to," Quistis shot back.

"Quistis, oh God, n-not you too!" I cried out. "N-no, I-I can't—I can't h-hold it!"

I heard fumbling in the background of the phone again.

"The fuck is going on!" I heard Seifer shout.

"Shut up!" Squall hissed.

"Put that shit on speaker!" Seifer cried out. "Speaker!"

"I am, I am!" Squall shot back.

"Tch men." And I hung up.

"You're the worst," Selphie smirked at me.

I grinned back, "I know. Now you two should get ready for your booty-calls."

Quistis placed a hand on her forehead and shook her head slowly. "We could just call them dates."

"Naw, I like booty-call," Selphie joked.

I smiled at the two of them but it slowly slipped away. "Hey guys." They both looked at me and noticed my mood instantly. "I know I've been kind of weird lately but…I love you both, you know that right. Times like this, I love them."

"Aw Rinny, we love you too." Selphie – never finding personal space an issue – crawled over to the tub and hugged me happily.

"Rinoa, I love you, but I'm not hugging you in the tub," Quistis smiled jokingly.

"Okay, okay, you two kids go get ready, I'm gonna finally enjoy a bath without something happening."

The two left the room happily chatting away about what they should wear to see their boyfriends as I stayed in the tub. I still held the phone and I rubbed my thumb over the buttons. I wanted to call Squall back. Not to say anything really just to…talk. But I knew I couldn't do that and he would just hang up as soon as I called. We were only supposed to talk as little as possible on these phones. With a deep sigh I set the phone on the ground next to the tub and slid down until just my nose was above the water. I wide smile spread across my face underneath the water.

We were getting closer to Blaine, I could feel it.

* * *

**So, things have been fairly serious lately, I figured the little bit at the end would lighten the mood slightly. So let me know if you liked Rinoa in this chapter. Was she badass or did I fail? Sorry for the slow updates (as usual) no promises on when the next chapter will be. Got some other things to work on, but just know that I really appreciate all the reviews and support on this story. You too anonymous reviewers, I can't respond to you but that doesn't mean you don't count. **


End file.
